NEW DELHI: Slip fielders in cricket are accustomed to taking catches flying off the edges of batsmen’s bats. But contemplate a batsman positioning himself to play a switch hit off a fast bowler. It can very well distract the slip fielders.
That’s exactly what happened in the first hour of the third day’s play in the third Test between India and England in Rajkot.
Much has been written about
Joe Root
batting under pressure to score quickly because of his team’s ‘Bazball’ tactics. Root, who has more than 11,000 Test runs, has often been criticized for playing unorthodox shots and as a result losing his wicket.
In the 40th over of the England innings, with 2 slips in place,
Root
positioned himself to play a switch hit off
Jasprit Bumrah
. Root did not connect well but the ball flew off the edge. But
Yashasvi Jaiswal
kept his cool, reacted quickly as the ball was flying past him and held on to the catch after a bit of a juggle.
JioCinema, the official broadcaster, shared a video of the catch on X:
This is the ninth time that Root has been dismissed by Bumrah in 21 innings.
And ever since his fabulous 218 in Chennai in 2021, Root has scored just 345 runs in 17 innings at an average of 20.29, with just one fifty and a highest score of 73.
