Joe Root said that the idea of reverse scooping to get to his century in the Ranchi Test briefly crossed his mind, but he decided against it, referring to his dismissal to the same stroke in the previous Test as “unfortunate”.
Root received backlash from some quarters for the same stroke in Rajkot, five overs into the third morning, a match that England went on to lose by 434 runs. Root was on 18 off 30 when he attempted the shot off Jasprit Bumrah, which went straight to Yashasvi Jaiswal at second slip.
In Ranchi, Root led the way for England, scoring a chanceless 122 off 274, and remained undefeated. At the end of the second day’s play, Sunil Gavaskar jokingly asked him if the thought to play the stroke had crossed his mind as he neared the three-figure mark.
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Gavaskar said: “Right from day one, I have been saying if Root is on 96-97, I would want him to get to a hundred with a reverse scoop.”
Root replied: “I must admit it did briefly cross my mind, but on that wicket it’s not a great option, but if you look at the previous wicket, it wasn’t as bad. But, it was a bit unfortunate, it kept a little bit low. That’s how you go sometimes.
“Nice to contribute this week, it’s been a lean series for me so I was desperate to try and get some runs for the guys, and it was nice to do that today. Hopefully can continue that for the rest of the series now.”
Root’s 31st Test ton, his tenth against India, helped England post 353, with only Ollie Robinson at No.9 crossing fifty. In reply, India were 219-7 at the end of the second day’s play.
