Joe Root slams Shubman Gill for wasting time amid ongoing ball change controversy, says ‘got to be skilful enough to adapt’

New Delhi: Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between England and India has been able to maintain fans all over the world. But now the chronic unreliability of the Dukes ball has become an increasing aggravation. All through the series, players on both sides have been complaining that the ball had lost its shape as early as in 10-12 overs. This obstacle continued throughout the Lord Test too but the ardor increased on the morning on Day 2 when Shubman Gill broke into a violent confrontation with the on-field umpires.

Both Shubman Gill, and Mohammed Siraj have expressed their annoyance with the second new ball that was spared, having been used only 10.3 overs. After Day 2 came to a close, England centurion Joe Root came out with an idea to solve the problem, which was somewhat radical, where it revolved around affording each team only three chances to alter the ball, in the course of 80 overs.

Explaining this proposal, Root said it would serve to diminish the annoyance arising out of the repetitive fluctuations of the ball of the Dukes. It is concerning that India as Jasprit Bumrah had picked three wickets in 14 balls but after that, the Indian bowlers failed to make anything out of the pitch after the change of ball. This enabled Brydon Carse and Jamie Smith to steer England above 350 runs.

Only forty eight deliveries later, the ball was then replaced again, pending player, expert, and fan outcry over both the Dukes ball and the repeated replacements.

“I personally think that if you want to keep getting the ball changed, then each team gets three challenges every 80 overs and that’s it, if you want to get it changed,” Root told reporters after stumps.

“But the rings have to be the right size, not too big,” he added.

Joe Root takes a dig at Indian team

It also seemed that Joe Root was throwing a slight last minute jab at India as he hinted that teams have to accept the conditions and keep moving. He stressed that the elements of prolonging and wasting time over the balls are unnecessary things that fuel the game with unnecessary slowness.

“That would be a nice way of compromising and saying it’s not all on the manufacturer. Sometimes these things happen, but you can’t just keep asking and wasting time and slowing the game down at the same time,” said Root.

At Day 1 stumps, Joe Root stood unbeaten on 99. He scored his 37th Test century on the first ball of the day when he recorded a boundary facing Jasprit Bumrah.

“It’s one of those things where if the balls are going out of shape, you change them, and you don’t make a big deal out of it. I don’t think it’s the end of the world. I think it adds a different dynamic to the game and you’ve got to be skilful enough to adapt to the changes, whether it stops swinging or starts swinging or does a little bit more,” said Root.

Speaking of the Lord’s Test match, the game is pretty well balanced. England now posted 387 and India is 145/3 with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant at of the crease. The visitors are stretched behind by 242 runs and it is going to be an interesting contest going forward.

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