EMBARRASSING
I immediately regretted my bat drop. I’m not going to hear the end of it, admits Joe Root
AQUICK glance at the picture of Joe Root bringing England’s one-day series against India to a memorable conclusion with his ‘bat drop’ celebration suggests that perhaps he might not be having the final word. For there in the background stands the inscrutable figure of India’s Virat Kohli, watching on as the captain he will do battle with in a seismic five-Test series next month appeared to proclaim ‘there’s no coming back from that’.
Cricket’s biggest superstar had already been embarrassed by adil Rashid so it is fair to assume he was not amused by Root emulating the ‘boastful’ gesture of rappers and comedians.
India could easily interpret Root’s actions as provocative when they are in the heat of the Test battle during a series where tempers will be tested by the familiarity of five matches crammed into a flammable six-week period.
It would not be surprising now if Kohli stores up the sight of Root ‘making a fool of himself’ in the words of his one-day captain Eoin Morgan and prepares to use it against his Test counterpart when battle commences at Edgbaston on august 1.
Certainly Root appeared to quickly realise he was risking the wrath of ‘mother cricket’ when he admitted after his 13th one- day hundred, an England record, that his ‘ mic drop’ might have been a mistake.
‘Oh no, don’t mention that,’ he said. ‘It’s something I immediately regretted. I’m not going to hear the end of it. Honestly.
‘It was literally the most embarrassing thing I’ve done. I don’t think it’s the last I’ll hear about it from the group. They’ve been hammering me. You’d think that if you were going to do a celebration like that it would be after you’ve smacked it 30 yards out of the park. It was just an absolute car crash. Oh well.’
Considering this is the man who once copped a right-hander from david Warner for donning a fake beard in a Birmingham pub and also once did a Bob Willis impression, complete with mask, on live TV, it was quite an admission.
Perhaps the one-time cheeky chappie and social secretary turned England Test captain remembered that relations between these sides have not exactly been smooth of late.
THE last time India were here for a Test series four years ago, Jimmy anderson was accused of a physical altercation with Ravindra Jadeja in the Trent Bridge pavilion. anderson was at the centre of more volatile scenes with India fielders when he batted at Chennai 18 months ago.
Kohli has said that India and England players are getting on much better now because they have got to know each other at the IPl, but that may change when he gets the whiff of anderson running in at him.
It does not help, perhaps, that the ‘mic drop’ is associated with arrogance. It is, according to Wikipedia, ‘the gesture of intentionally dropping one’s microphone at the end of a performance or speech to signify triumph. It indicates a boastful attitude towards one’s own performance’.
In comedy it is often used by a performer after a particularly effective line at a heckler to ‘indicate complete confidence in the opponent’s inability to come back with anything worthy of a response’. Over to you then, Virat.
Cricket has long had an uneasy relationship with celebrations outside the norm of raising one’s bat to acknowledge the applause of supporters upon reaching three figures.
Who can forget India legend Sourav ganguly swirling his shirt above his head in triumph on the lord’s balcony in July 2002 in response to andrew Flintoff doing the same in Mumbai five months earlier? Earlier in that lord’s match,
Sportsmail’s nasser Hussain responded to what he felt was unfair criticism of his ability to bat at no 3 in 50- over cricket by thrusting three fingers at his three biggest critics in the media centre, Willis, Ian Botham and Jonathan agnew and pointing at the no 3 on his back.
Shane Warne, rarely a stranger to making a fool of himself, has never really been allowed to forget his naff dance, waving a stump above his head on the Trent Bridge balcony after winning the ashes in 1997.
More recently came the ever provocative Marlon Samuels and his military salute in grenada in 2015 towards his bete noire, Ben Stokes.
More amusing was Chris gayle and the West Indies team dancing ‘gangnam Style’ in celebration at winning the 2012 World Twenty20 title, but only because they had the moves to just about carry it off.
now Root has joined the club at a time when he should be reflecting on back-to-back unbeaten hundreds that represent a return to form.
‘I’ve not felt like I’ve been playing poorly or that there have been any glaring mistakes in my game,’ said Root in more reflective mood at Headingley. ‘and that’s why it’s been frustrating. But I had a think about how I wanted to go about things in this series and went back to what has held me in good stead. Trying to focus on playing the situation, letting the guys bat around me and giving them the freedom to go and play.’
He might have taken his eye off the ball at the end but at least Root is making hundreds again. now it is up to India to decide what comes next.