Picture the following scenario – you are a batsman in the middle of an innings facing a top class fast bowler and suddenly miss one middle-heighted delivery, which hits you straight in your groin. Ouch!!! That would hurt, right? Following this, you would wish for a teammate to come running and comfort you. Sadly, if you are Ben Stokes and your teammate is Joe Root, nothing of that sort is going to happen. You will see Joe Root laughing far in the corner, the pavillion or maybe right next to you as well.
This is not a work of fiction but a real scenario that took place yesterday in the 5th ODI between England and Pakistan at Cardiff. Having already won the series, England were fairly relaxed and had rested some of their players. Ben Stokes was batting on 44 when the first ball of the 37th over, which was bowled by Umar Gul, stayed a bit low and hit his abdomen after tacking a thick bottom edge of his bat.
You would expect some sort of empathy and consoling from even opponents but Joe Root, Stokes’ teammate, burst out laughing, as if he were watching a Charlie Chaplin film. Here is what happened:
Joe Root could not control his laughter and made no attempt to do that whatsoever. Twitterati were quick to remind that the English batsman had done this in the past as well, the only difference being that on the previous occasion, the teammate was Alastair Cook and England were fielding. It is quite strange that irrespective of the times we play or watch cricket in, this one category of incidents always gives rise to humour for everyone but the person who gets hit.
The incident involving Alastair Cook took place during the first Ashes Test Match in July 2015 and the English captain was fielding in the slips when a ball bounced in front of him and hit where it should not have done so. Root, while trying to comfort his teammate, could not stop laughing then either.
The above photograph shows exactly why you would not want Joe Root as your teammate if you get hit and it is agonisingly painful.
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