The recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar trophy between India and Pakistan witnessed some exceptional cricket. The closely-fought series that ended in a draw (2-2) saw two fierce rivals going head-to-head in a high-octane series.
Apart from cricket, the series also witnessed a lot of on-field banters amongst the players from the two sides. One such banter which shocked the cricketing fraternity was between the English legend Joe Root and the Indian pacer Prasidh Krishna.
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Joe Root has now issued a clarification over the incident, as he mentioned that the Indian player did not say anything offensive.
Joe Root speaks on his altercation with Prasidh Krishna
Joe Root, arguably the greatest red-ball batter of this generation, is often known for his calm demeanor and is a very quiet personality. The Englishmen who have also captained England are very rarely seen to be involved in aggressive banter.
The incident occurred during India's fifth Test against England at the Kennington Oval. Root and Krishna were seen involved in a heated exchange that quickly went viral all over social media. It came as a shock to the cricketing fans, who hadn't seen such an animated Root.
"First ball, he hit me hard on the finger, and I was trying not to show any sort of emotion about it. The next ball or one after, I hit him for four and he said something to me, I had no idea what he said, I just thought he's not gonna expect me to go back at him, so I tried to put him on the back foot," said Root in an interview with Barmy Army.
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Root and Krishna are in complete contrast when it comes to personalities on the field. While Root is known to be calm, Krishna is more aggressive and does not back off from having a fierce chat with the opponent.
Following the incident, the Indian pacer received a lot of backlash over the internet, with people assuming that he might have said something really nasty, which riled up a player like Root.
"There's an element of still being in a reasonable amount of pain, but I think the situation, you know, required it as well, with where we were in the game and it was quite a bowler friendly surface...it was trying to find a way of almost creating a bit of chaos, scrambling their minds and trying to flip the momentum back in," added Root.
However, Mohammad Siraj dismissed Root at a score of 29 and failed to succeed with his strategy.
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The duo has featured for the same team in the Indian Premier League. They were a part of the Rajasthan Royals setup for a couple of seasons and are said to be good mates off the field.
"Albeit there was an element of emotion in it, there wasn't any malice in it, we had a good chat that evening and the following morning, and things find it. He was involved in Rajasthan when I was there as well. So as I say, he's a good fella...he definitely didn't say anything offensive"
England went on the loose in the thriller by six runs, as India staged a historic comeback in the last few sessions to level the series at the Kennington Oval.
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