England bowler Stuard Broad mocked Virat Kohli by taking a sarcastic dig on his gesture towards England captain Joe Root on Day 1 of the first Test played between India and England at Chennai. The fast bowler is sitting out of this Test and thus, it might just be that his sarcastic comment came out of a place of frustration. 

It all happened on the first day of the inaugural Test between India and England. England Team skipper looked to be in top form as he went on to smash a steady century against Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Root came on the field at a time when England desperately needed a partnership, having lost 2 crucial wickets before 100 runs were put on the board. Thanks to Root and Sibley, the England team went on to have a comfortable position till the last session of the day.  

The partnership was unbeaten till the scoreboard showed 263 runs for the loss of only 3 wickets. Root had literally rooted himself on one end of the pitch and was at 128 runs when something heartwarming happened. As the sun was dropping to the West end of the stadium, Root smashed a beautiful six against Indian spinner Ashwin. But Root lost his balance and went down on the pitch with a cramp. Before the England physio could reach and help the skipper out, Indian captain Kohli came to Root’s aid and helped him stretch his legs.  

International Cricket Council also appreciated the spirit of cricket between the two players and posted an image of the scene with the caption: “When England captain Joe Root was struck by cramps, Virat Kohli was the first to his aid. A heart-warming Spirit of Cricket gesture 👏” 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by ICC (@icc)

However, England fast bowler seems to not be so impressed by Kohli’s gesture and took a sarcastic dig at the post by commenting, ‘I ran a drink out too, spirit of cricket award?’ 

The England fast bowler has over 500 Test wickets in his kit but is sitting out for this Test. For a while, the experienced England bowler has been given breaks by his team between Test matches along with his pace mate James Anderson. Being not able to do much other than just warming the bench could likely have triggered such a sarcastic response from the player.  

 India VS England, Test 1, Day 2 Highlights

The visitors continued with their onslaught against the Indian bowlers and were in a dominating position when the bails were lifted off on Day 2 of the first Test. England has registered a mammoth total of 555 for the loss of 8 wickets after 180 overs in the ongoing test in Chennai. 

The visitors began the day on a good note and Ben Stokes with skipper Root stitched a steady partnership. Stokes fell just 18 runs short of a century and contributed 82 runs for his team. After his departure, Pope tried making a contribution but couldn’t move past 34 runs and lost his wicket. Experienced England player Jos Butler came to the middle and also added 30 runs to the board. By the end of the day, tailenders Bess and Leach remained unbeaten.  

The thunder of the entire day was stolen by Joe Root who is playing his 100th Test match. Root went on to score 218 runs and faced over 350 deliveries. Root showed exceptional batting performance by letting go of the tricky deliveries by Indian bowlers and punishing the loose ones.  

Coming to the Indian side, the Indian bowling side failed to shake the England team’s foundations. The visitors easily found their footing and over the course of 3 sessions punished Indian bowlers. Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took the crucial wicket of Pope and Shahbaz Nadeem uprooted Joe Root along with Ben Stokes. 

The Indian bowling side would be aiming to quickly dismantle the tail of England and take on the seemingly insurmountable task of putting a lead over 500 runs in the coming days of the Test and register a win. A draw would be a happy ending for Indians, but the England team after pushing hard, would not be looking to settle for anything less than a satisfactory win.