'That was the plan' - Prasidh on verbal duel with Root

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Prasidh Krishna did not know those words would unsettle Joe Root and play a key role in his dismissal for 29 in an eventful middle session on Friday, when England fell off the tracks and handed the controls of the Oval Test to India.

Root had walked in with England in command at 129 for 2 after Zak Crawley fell attempting a pull off Prasidh, giving the tall fast bowler the first of his four wickets. Prasidh, along with Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, had started to stem the run flow as the weather slides shifted from sunny in the morning to cloudy post lunch.

The very first ball Root faced, a rising delivery from good length, he was rapped on the glove by Prasidh. Two balls later, a wobble seam delivery straightened to beat Root's defence. It was then, possibly, that Prasidh said those words to him.

Next ball Root hit a square-driven four and uncharacteristically shot back verbally at Prasidh, forcing umpire Kumar Dharmasena to intervene. Dharmasena was seen talking animatedly to Prasidh. KL Rahul and India captain Shubman Gill also came together as the umpire cautioned undue aggression in a chat that went for more than two minutes. For the next few overs, Dharmasena continued to follow Prasidh's movements closely as the Indians and Root exchanged a few pleasantries.

Prasidh conceded he was surprised at Root getting rattled. "I don't know why Rooty [reacted]," he told the BBC's Test Match Special. "I just said, 'You're looking in great shape,' and then it turned into a lot of abuse and all of that."

The plan to distract Root by engaging him in a verbal duel, Prasidh admitted, was hatched by the visitors ahead of the Oval Test. "That was the plan, but I didn't expect the couple of words I said to get such a big reaction from him," Prasidh said at the media briefing.

Prasidh said he enjoyed being "aggressive" and it was just the "competitive edge" that had caused what he described as "banter" between Root and him. "That's just who I am when I'm bowling, when I'm enjoying. If it means that I have a bit of a chatter with the batter... and it does help me when I can get under the nerves of the batsman and get a reaction from them. But I love the guy that he is. He is a legend of the game and I think it is great when two people are out there wanting to do the best and be a winner at a given moment."

England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick did not want to read too much into India's plan to rattle Root, who has been England's highest run-maker this series. "I think they made a comment, didn't they?" Trescothick said after the day's play. "He [Prasidh] obviously tried to get after him [Root] and spark him up a little bit. Maybe they have seen him play so well over the last couple of games that India tried a different approach, and Joe bit back, as sometimes he does. Normally, he is the sort of guy who just laughs and giggles and allows things to happen, but today he just chose a different route. Everyone has their own method of dealing with that sort of approach, and today Joe bit back."

The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy has been a neck-and-neck tussle with both teams going at each other and consequently there have been a fair few volatile exchanges between the players. While at Lord's Gill took notice of England's openers Crawley and Ben Duckett walking in 90 seconds late to the crease at the start of the hosts' second innings, England captain Ben Stokes sparked a controversy at Old Trafford by questioning the decision of Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar opting to continue to play in the final hour of the final session despite the match headed for a draw.

On Friday, there was another sensitive incident that could have sparked into something bigger had Duckett decided to react aggressively after Akash Deep put his arm around the opener after dismissing him. It was a surprising move, Trescothick said, on Akash Deep's part. "He didn't really say too much. Strange, really. I don't think you really need to be putting your arm around someone, but nothing was really said, was it? You just don't really see it. We were chatting on the balcony there and I know many good people playing in county cricket would have said something or dug the elbow in, or something like that."