Riling up Joe Root was part of India’s plans: Prasidh Krishna on on-field clash

London: India pacer Prasidh Krishna relished the banter with ‘good mate’ Joe Root on day two of the fifth and final Test and said riling up England’s batting mainstay was part of the team’s plans.

Prasidh and Root had a tense moment that required interventions from the umpires. The usually composed Root reacted animatedly and was clearly not amused with Prasidh’s comments following a boundary in the 22st over.

“Well, it was a very small thing. I think it was just a competitive edge amongst us that was coming out. Both of us are good mates off the field. It was just a little bit of a banter and both of us enjoyed it,” said Prasidh in the post-day press conference.

The Karnataka man also hinted that the lip service to Root was not entirely by accident.

“That was also the plan. But I didn't really expect a couple of words that I said to get such a big reaction from him. But like I said, I love the guy that he is. He's a legend of the game.

“And for him to come out there, it's great when two people are out there wanting to do their best,” said Praisdh who took a four-wicket haul alongside Mohammed Siraj to script India’s impressive comeback after the onslaught of Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley in the first session.

A bit of chatter with the opposition batter tends to get the best out of him, Prasidh revealed.

“I try and enjoy bowling if it means that I have a bit of a chatter with the batsman. And it does help me when the batsman also is, I can get under the nerves and get a reaction from him. And I think I was just running in well,” said the lanky fast bowler.

What was the chat among the pacers after being blown away in the morning? “As a team we knew what happened before lunch and the three fast bowlers, I think we got together in a small corner and decided, what's happened has happened.

“And all of us know what we need to be doing and we just said, every time we are on the field, at the mark, we trust each other enough, go speak to each other, tell them if you're not on the right track, and just make sure you're bowling the right lines and take it from there.

“And as a team as well, we spoke about the same thing. Like, if the next three, two hours, if we can show some body language, I think it's going to make a big difference and it made a big difference,” he said.

The 29-year-old noted that when the batters are going ballistic like the ones from England tend to do, it is important to maintain the right lines and lengths.

“I think they are playing a lot of shots and as a bowling unit, it's very hard for us to keep bowling the same areas, knowing they're going to do all kinds of things and try to score runs. But that's the challenge in itself.

“If you can still come there and know what your lengths and lines are and keep bowling the same good balls again and again, I think it's a matter of time. And that's the challenge, to be able to bowl the good lengths in spite of the aggressive intent of the batsman.”

‘No need to walk Duckett off like that’

A smiling India pacer Akash Deep gave a rather unusual send off to Ben Duckett, wrapping his arm around the England opener, a move that he clearly did not enjoy.

England batting coach Marcus Trescothick said there was no need for the Indian pacer to act like that.

“Many in my time would have just dropped the elbow on him or something quite different. I don't think I've ever seen a bowler do that after getting someone out. Obviously, you see them having many words; you've seen it in this series on both sides. It was just different for me; I was just laughing and joking about it.

“It is what it is. You put your head down and walk off, your job is done at that point. There is no need to walk him off in that fashion,” said Trescothick.