England National Cricket Team modern-day batting great Joe Root channelled his inner Virat Kohli in fiery confrontations with India National Cricket Team pacer Prasidh Krishna during the fifth and final Test match of the series.
Joe Root and Prasidh Krishna were engaged in heated spats on Day 2 of the fifth Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at the Kennington Oval in London.
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The second-highest run-getter in Test cricket history, Joe Root, is known for his calm personality, and he rarely loses his cool on the field.
Root usually focuses on his business and doesn’t get involved in any banters on the field. Even when some bowlers try to sledge Root, the Englishman ensures he responds with his bat rather than words.
However, a different version of Root was seen during his verbal spats with India pacer Prasidh Krishna during the series finale of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025.
It all started during the 22nd over of England’s innings on Day 2. On the 5th ball of the over, Prasidh Krishna bowled a good length beauty just outside off-stump to Root, who hung back to defend, and the ball moved away slightly to beat the outside edge.
Krishna was seen saying some things to Root in his follow-through, and the England batter didn’t back down as he charged towards the pacer and passed on some comments.
Then, on the sixth and final ball of the over, Root hit a length delivery from Prasidh Krishna through gully for a four.
Just after that, Joe Root and Prasidh Krishna were seen engaging in yet another heated verbal spat. Root was totally fired up and looked very miffed while saying some things to the Indian pacer.
Umpire Kumar Dharmasena had to intervene, and he was seen giving a bashing to Prasidh Krishna. Even ahead of Krishna’s next over, Dharmasena was seen scolding the pacer, but that didn’t stop him from exchanging death stares with the English batter.
Watch: Joe Root goes full Virat Kohli in fiery confrontations with Prasidh Krishna at The Oval
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There’s definitely been a change of tactic – Michael Vaughan
Speaking on BBC Test Match Special, former England skipper Michael Vaughan reckoned that India had a team meeting where they decided to distract Joe Root by getting under his skin. He said:
“There’s definitely been a change of tactic. It looks to me like India have had a team meeting and are trying to get into Joe Root to see if it’ll distract him, instead of being nice to him.”
Meanwhile, former India wicketkeeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta was totally shocked seeing Root’s fiery nature. He said:
“I’m surprised because you never really see Joe Root react like that. The way he approached Prasidh Krishna, you think ‘oh, what’s happened here?’.”
“The Indian bowlers are looking a lot more settled now, especially after the dismissal of Ben Duckett who can be very scary to bowl against,” Deep Dasgupta added.
Also, while speaking on Sky Sports, former England captain Nasser Hussain highlighted that Mohammed Siraj was trying to get involved in the Root-Krishna spat. He stated:
“As ever, Siraj is letting Root know he wants to get involved in this.”