"He seemed to be under pressure" - RP Singh on Joe Root's dismissal on Day 4 of ENG vs IND 2025 5th Test

Former India player RP Singh has opined that Joe Root succumbed to pressure in England's second innings of the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. He pointed out that the ace England batter was getting beaten repeatedly in the last few overs before his dismissal.

Root scored 105 runs off 152 balls on Day 4 (Sunday, August 3) at The Oval. However, his dismissal reduced England to 337/6 and they managed only two more runs before Stumps, leaving them needing 35 runs on Day 5 to register a 3-1 series win.

During a discussion on Sony Sports, Singh reckoned that Root fell prey to pressure.

"He seemed to be under pressure. There were two or three overs where Root's bat wasn't hitting the ball. The ball was either hitting his pads or he was getting beaten. He was facing a lot of difficulties," he said.

The former India pacer added that the right-handed batter became overdefensive in an attempt to remain unbeaten.

"I felt he was thinking too much. He was feeling that he had to save his wicket and spend the remaining time, so that he could go after winning the match. He played a wrong shot in that dilemma, or else he could have taken a single easily or left the ball," Singh observed.

Joe Root struck 12 fours during his 105-run knock. He added 195 runs for the fourth wicket with Harry Brook (111 off 98) before India dismissed the duo and Jacob Bethell (5 off 31) to keep their hopes of leveling the series alive.

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"We very rarely get to see Joe Root making such a mistake after a hundred" - RP Singh

Joe Root survived a few lbw appeals before he was dismissed. [P/C: Getty]

In the same discussion, RP Singh noted that Joe Root rarely commits such mistakes after scoring a century.

"He went to chase the ball because of the pressure that was maintained. We very rarely get to see Joe Root making such a mistake after a hundred. He faced difficulties whenever length balls were bowled. He faced a lot of difficulties against the scrambled-seam balls," he said.

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Root was struggling against length deliveries bowled with a scrambled seam, which eventually contributed to his dismissal.

"He was unable to understand the balls properly in that area, and the majority of the time, he was playing standing in his position, due to which he remained away from the ball many times. This wicket let India come back into the game," Singh observed.

Former India pacer Ashish Nehra opined that Joe Root would have got a single had Mohammed Siraj bowled the same ball to which he got dismissed. He pointed out that although Siraj also bowls at a similar pace, Root got trapped because of Prasidh Krishna's extra bounce.