England’s batting coach, Marcus Trescothick, played down the incident between Joe Root and Prasidh Krishna during the fifth Test at Kennington Oval, describing it as nothing serious. The altercation, which took place on Day 2, saw tempers flare after a verbal exchange between the two players.
Root, typically composed, didn’t hold back when Krishna targeted him early in the first over he faced on Friday. As the contest continued, Root became increasingly vocal, responding to a series of verbal jabs from Krishna during the 24th over of England’s innings.
The tension escalated, but umpire Kumar Dharmasena stepped in just in time to separate the players before things could get out of hand. While Trescothick acknowledged that Root’s reaction was uncharacteristic of him, he emphasised that there was nothing substantial to the incident.
“Nothing major—just the usual stuff you hear in a competitive game. Joe reacted a bit differently this time, but it wasn’t anything serious,” Trescothick said in the press conference after the day’s play.
Trescothick also addressed the moment when Akash Deep put his arm around Ben Duckett after dismissing him. As Duckett made his way off the field, having scored 43 in a 92-run partnership with Zak Crawley, Akash approached him, placed a hand on his shoulder, and exchanged a few words — giving him a send-off.
“Yeah, that was different! I joked that in my time, some players might’ve just dropped an elbow instead. But no harm done—just one of those moments. You see lots of words and little incidents throughout a series, but that one was more unusual,” Trescothick said.
The Test match is currently hanging in the balance with India leading by 52 runs with eight wickets left in their second innings. As many as 16 wickets went down on Friday, which was a day when bowlers dictated terms.
Harry Brook, Yashasvi Jaiswal scored fifties in challenging conditions, giving an account of their grit and determination. Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj picked up four wickets apiece.
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