In the 2nd innings of the 3rd Test between India and England at the Niranjan Shah stadium in Rajkot, English number 4 batter Joe Root chose to get out in the most bizarre fashion as he was caught in the slip after landing an outside edge off Jasprit Bumrah’s delivery while trying to play an unnecessary reverse scoop. But his former teammate Stuart Broad feels that he was right to do so as the same shot has given him a good amount of success in the past.
Stuart Broad made this claim while writing in his column for the Daily Mail in the light of England’s performance in the 3rd Test so far. He spoke about various different topics about the ongoing all-important match, from Ben Duckett’s 2nd innings hundred to England’s tragic middle-order downfall, and also shed some light on Joe Root’s uncanny dismissal.
Root is undoubtedly the Three Lions’ most experienced player in Indian conditions but he has been playing as if he is the most in-experienced player out there. He has looked like a shadow of his former self and is nowhere near the level he was during his previous tours of India.
In his debut Test series over here, Joe Root had scores of 73* and 20 in the last of a 4-match Test series in Nagpur. It was a great way to announce himself at the highest level and since then he hasn’t looked back. With more than 11,000 runs in the red-ball format along with 30 hundreds and 50 half-centuries at an average of 49.64, Root has well and truly become the modern-day legend and is often included in the big 4 batters conversation alongside Australia’s Steve Smith, India’s Virat Kohli and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.
In his last tour of India back in 2021, Root had a double century to his name in the 1st Test at Chennai in what was his first tour of the country as England captain. Since then he has had 10 triple-digit scores but in the ongoing tour, something has gone wrong with him. Many are blaming the Bazball style of Test cricket for his sudden lean patch which has been at the forefront of things in this tour specifically.
“No one will be more frustrated” – Stuart Broad opines on Joe Root’s dismissal
His former teammate Stuart Broad has come out in his defense in the meantime, claiming that Joe Root would be feeling like the saddest person with his shot selection and with the way he got out in the 3rd Test off that reverse scoop.
“There’s been a lot of talk about why that happened, but the first thing I would say regarding Joe Root’s dismissal is that no one will be more frustrated with it than Joe himself. Not that he will be annoyed by his thought process,” Broad wrote via Daily Mail.
“That reverse sweep to the seamers has bought him a decent amount of success and we can’t clap and cheer when he flicks it for six in the Ashes and then stomp our feet when he gets out doing the same thing. To be honest, having played alongside him for so long, I prefer him dismissed like that than bowled, leaving it,” Broad concluded.