England failed to dominate a single session on Day 3 of the Rajkot Test match against India on Saturday, 17 February. Despite being in a strong position at the start on Day 3, England bottled their chances and conceded a lead of 126 runs against the India team.
At the heart of that downfall was Joe Root. Batting at 18 in the 40th over, Root tried to scoop Jasprit Bumrah with a full slip cordon in place. The senior England batter ended up handing a dolly to Yashasvi Jaiswal standing at the second slip and triggered a horrible England collapse. From 220/2, the visiting side was bundled out for just 319 runs.
IND vs ENG, 3rd Test: Day 3 Report
Former India cricketer hammered Root for his shot selection and said that if it was any other batter doing this at the domestic level, their career would have been finished.
“The shot Joe Root played, if someone had played such a shot at domestic or club level, his career might have gotten over. He would have been asked to first correct things and come as you can’t play like that,” RP Singh said on Colour Cineplex.
“I am not able to think how the support staff would see that shot. I never thought such a compact player would play this shot and that too against Jasprit Bumrah. He might have thought two days ago that he would try something unique as Bumrah was anyway dismissing him,” Singh further added.
The former India player further argued that Root might have tried to do something out of the ordinary because he had not been in good form till now. Root has struggled in the series, especially against Bumrah and has been dismissed multiple times against the pacer.
At the end of Day 3, the England team were left in a precarious position having conceded a lead of 322 runs. India had just lost 2 wickets and had scored 196 runs.
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