England vs India: Prasidh Krishna admits Joe Root’s ‘big reaction’ in heated exchange surprised him as tempers flare | Cricket News

England engaged in another day of angry on-field exchanges in their decisive fifth Test against India, with the tourists openly targeting Joe Root and assistant coach Marcus Trescothick taking a dim view of the opposition’s antics.

There have been several fractious moments between the teams since a time-wasting row at Lord’s lit the blue touch paper and there were another three to add to the list on a box office second day at the Kia Oval.

There were 342 runs and 15 wickets in total, with India ending up with a 52-run lead at 75-2 in their second innings. But the post-match debates lingered on the latest batch of flashpoints.

Root was visibly riled by something that was said to him by Prasidh Krishna, shouting indignantly at the seamer before the umpires moved to warn India about their behaviour.

Ben Duckett was at the centre of two incidents, the second of which appeared to involve him enraging Sai Sudharsan following his late dismissal. Earlier, having been picked up on stump microphones telling Akash Deep “you can’t get me out”, he went on to be dismissed by the pace bowler and received an unusual send-off.

Deep put his arm over the opener’s shoulders as he walked towards the pavilion and grinned as he offered some unsolicited farewell words.

Deep’s actions could be deemed to breach ICC rules on “inappropriate physical contact”, despite being delivered with a smile.

“There is no need to walk him off in that fashion. Your job is done at that point,” said Trescothick, England’s assistant coach.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bowler do that after getting someone out. It was strange really.”

Television cameras had picked up Trescothick making some animated gestures in the dressing room and he explained: “We were chatting on the balcony. Many in my time would have just dropped the elbow on him or something quite different. I was just laughing and joking about it.”

As for Root’s uncharacteristic tirade, Trescothick added: “I think they made a comment didn’t they? He (Krishna) tried to get after him and spark him up a little bit. Joe’s normally the kind of guy who laughs and giggles and allows things to happen, but today he chose a different route. Today Joe bit back.”

Krishna admitted it was part of a deliberate ploy to unsettle England’s best batter, but insisted nothing untoward had been said.

“That was the plan, but I didn’t really expect the couple of words that I said to get such a big reaction from him,” he said.

“It was a very small thing. I think it was just a competitive edge amongst us that was coming out. But I love the guy that he is, he’s a legend of the game.”

“I’m not so sure the bowler should be putting his arm around the bowler having got him out, regardless of whether that is in good spirits or not,” said Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton on commentary at the time.

“He was rightly dragged away.”

What needle happened previously?

In the third Test at Lord’s, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett used cheeky delaying tactics to ensure they only faced one over from pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah before the close of play on the third day.

During the Lord’s drama, India pace bowler Mohammed Siraj gave England opener Ben Duckett a fiery send-off by screaming in his face after he dismissed him.

Siraj was later fined 15 per cent of his match fee and given one demerit point.

Then, as the fourth Test at Emirates Old Trafford drew to a close, England and India were once again left unhappy with each other as Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar were determined to reach their centuries, despite skipper Stokes offering a draw earlier.

Watch day three of the fifth Test between England and India, at The Kia Oval, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am on Saturday (first ball at 11am) or stream without a contract.

England vs India – results and schedule

All games at 11am UK and Ireland; all on Sky Sports