India's tally and lanky pacer, Prasidh Krishna, registered his best bowling figures in Test cricket. With four wickets for 62 runs, he teamed up with Mohammed Siraj to bowl out England for 247 despite a 92-run opening partnership. While there were plenty of heated exchanges on Day 2 of the fifth Test of the series, the one involving Krishna and former England captain Joe Root stood out. After the day's play, Krishna revealed that he did not expect a reaction of this magnitude from Root after he told him: "You are looking in great shape".
"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."
Krishna said that the plan was to engage Root and get him to react. He feels getting a reaction out of the batter helps him.
"That was the plan, but I didn't expect the couple of words I said to get such a big reaction from him," he said at the media briefing.
"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."
Root scored 29 runs from 45 balls. He was eventually dismissed lbw by Mohammed Siraj.
What Trescothick said about Root's reaction?
England's assistant coach Marcus Treschothick did not look too much into the fiery exchange. He said that India tried a different approach against Root who has been in goof form.
"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."
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Jaiswal scores quickfire fifty
England were bowled out for 247, managing a nominal 23-run lead. India lost the wickets of opener KL Rahul and Sai Sudharsan but managed to take a 52-run lead before bad light stopped play. Yashasvi Jaiswal stayed unbeaten for 51 off 49 balls whereas Akash Deep hit a boundary off the two balls he faced.