In Hyderabad on January 25, during the first Test of the five-match series against India, England’s Joe Root threw away his wicket after becoming well-set.
Joe Root narrowly escaped an LBW appeal on his second ball against Jadeja. However, he appeared confident against India’s three spinners. At 33, he surpassed Sachin Tendulkar, now the highest scorer in India-England tests with 2,555 runs.
In terms of hitters with the most Test runs against India, he also tied Ricky Ponting and seemed headed for another three-figure total. However, Root’s obsession with the sweep shot—which was frequently dangerous when it came to Jadeja—became his undoing in the end.
The seasoned batsman was removed for a mere 29 off 60 balls after top-edging a sweep straight to Jasprit Bumrah at short fine leg.
For the first time in his remarkable Test career, Root’s average fell below 50 while playing his eleventh Test match in India. Even though he still has an excellent average of 49.05 in Test matches played in India, he hasn’t scored a half-century in his past eight innings since the 218 he scored in Chennai during the 2021–2022 tour.
Additionally, it was Jadeja’s ninth dismissal of Joe Root in Test matches and his sixth in international cricket.
Fans on Twitter had mixed emotions to Root’s dismissal, playing the sweep shot off the left-arm spinner. Some of the greatest responses are included below:
England’s batting woes continue as India spin them out on day one
On the first day of the first Test in Hyderabad, the world-class Indian spinners and England’s Bazball strategy came up against one other in a match that promised to be fascinating.
Sadly, England’s batsmen, who had looked great against the pacers, fell apart against the hosts’ tweakers. With a quick start, the visitors scored runs at will to go to 55/0 in less than 12 overs.
But Ravichandran Ashwin got the first blood when he removed Ben Duckett. Three runs later, his spin twin Ravindra Jadeja took Ollie Pope. The off-spinner then picked up his second wicket by removing the other opener, Zak Crawley, to leave England reeling at 60/3.
Both Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow maintained their composure and scored crucial runs before the lunch break, but Axar Patel struck a beauty to remove Bairstow from the game.
Ben Foakes, the wicketkeeper, and Joe Root soon followed, leaving England at 144/6 in 44 overs with everything in ruins. Each of the three Indian spinners—Axar, Jadeja, and Ashwin—has taken two wickets.
