Joe Root Slammed For Stupidest Shot After England Collapse

Joe Root (Image Source: Google)

England batsman Joe Root faced a torrent of criticism Saturday after getting dismissed off a reverse scoop to trigger England's collapse on day three of the third Test against India.

Root attempted to reverse paddle India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah on a ball outside the off-stump in Rajkot but miscued and was caught at second slip, his latest batting flop in the series.

His departure on 18 opened the doors for India, who started the day on the back foot with Ravichandran Ashwin's sudden departure from the match overnight to be with his ailing mother.

Cricketers and pundits said former England captain Root -- who has made over 11,000 runs in 138 Tests -- had misfired by trying to fit into England's attacking "Bazball" brand of cricket.

"Joe Root's latest Bazball shot is the stupidest in English Test cricket history," read the headline on a scathing article by Telegraph cricket writer Scyld Berry.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan wrote on X that Root was "far too good to gift India such a cheap wicket 20 mins into a crucial day when they are down to 10 players."

England resumed the day on 207-2 but were bowled out for 319, conceding India a huge lead of 126.

Ben Duckett top-scored with 153 and skipper Ben Stokes hit 41 in his landmark 100th Test but the rest of the batting fell apart.

By the end of the day, India reached stumps on 196-2, ahead by 322 runs.

But Duckett defended Root's adventurous shot.

"I'd be interested to know if those people were against it when he was doing it to (Australia captain) Pat Cummins and hitting him for six in the summer," Duckett told reporters.

"It's the same as me playing a reverse sweep and getting caught at point," he added. "That shot has been very successful for him over the past year so next time it may go over slip."

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