Prefer Joe Root being dismissed playing ramp shot than being bowled leaving the ball: Stuart Broad backs England batter’s shot selection

Former England fast bowler Stuart Broad has backed Joe Root’s shot selection in the ongoing Test series against India amid criticism from some quarters. Broad said that he would prefer Root being dismissed while attempting the ramp stroke than being bowled while leaving it.

Root, a former England captain, has had a poor tour of India so far. He scored 29 & 2 in the first Test in Hyderabad and 5 & 16 in the second Test in Visakhapatnam. The 33-year-old was dismissed for 18 in the first innings of the ongoing Rajkot Test.

Root attempted a reverse scoop off Jasprit Bumrah, but ended up giving a catch to second slip. His dismissal triggered a batting collapse as England went from 224/2 to 319 all out. The right-handed batter has come in for a lot of criticism over his manner of dismissals in the series, attempting cheeky and aggressive strokes.

Writing in his column for The Daily Mail, though, Broad backed Root and stated that the batter himself would be most disappointed with his dismissal.

“There's been a lot of talk about why that happened, but the first thing I would say regarding Joe Root's dismissal is that no one will be more frustrated with it than Joe himself. Not that he will be annoyed by his thought process,” Broad wrote.

The former England fast bowler, however, added that he would still want Root to keep playing in the same mode rather than switch to a more defensive one.

“That reverse sweep to the seamers has bought him a decent amount of success and we can't clap and cheer when he flicks it for six in the Ashes and then stomp our feet when he gets out doing the same thing. To be honest, having played alongside him for so long, I prefer him dismissed like that than bowled, leaving it,” Broad opined.

Resuming Day 3 of the Rajkot Test against India at 207/2, England were all out for 319 despite opener Ben Duckett’s 153 off 151 balls.

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Nasser Hussain also backed Joe Root over his Day 3 dismissal

Former England captain Nasser Hussain also backed Root over his dismissal on Day 3 of the Rajkot Test. Speaking on Sky Sports, he pointed out that the batter had tasted successive playing strokes like the ramp in the recent past.

"After the first two Tests against India, we said that Root might not be suited to Bazball. But the stats say otherwise. He averages 51 under this regime and he averaged 49 before that. His dismissal sort of sums up where we are with Bazball. It will thrill and frustrate in equal measure," Hussain said.

When he is playing those reverse-scoops to the first ball of the day of an Ashes Test, we all jump up and applaud. When he does it to Bumrah here and gets out, we all say 'what a disgrace'," he added.

Meanwhile, India resumed their second innings on Day 4 at 196/2 and were 225/2 after 59 overs.