England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick left unimpressed with India's tactics
There have been several fractious moments between the teams since a time-wasting row at Lord's lit the blue touch paper and there were another three to add to the list on a box office second day at the Kia Oval.
There were 342 runs and 15 wickets in total, with India ending up with a 52-run lead at 75 for two in their second innings. But the post-match debates lingered on the latest batch of flashpoints.
Stumps on Day 2 ✅
India lead by 52 runs with eight wickets remaining. pic.twitter.com/SGfNwGYdyb
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 1, 2025
Root was visibly riled by something that was said to him by Prasidh Krishna, shouting indignantly at the seamer before the umpires moved to warn India about their behaviour.
Ben Duckett was at the centre of two incidents, the second of which appeared to involve him enraging Sai Sudharsan following his late dismissal. Earlier, having been picked up on stump microphones telling Akash Deep 'you can't get me out', he went on to be dismissed by the pace bowler and received an unusual send-off. Deep put his arm over the opener's shoulders as he walked towards the pavilion and grinned as he offered some unsolicited farewell words.
'There is no need to walk him off in that fashion. Your job is done at that point,' said Trescothick, England's assistant coach.
'I don't think I've ever seen a bowler do that after getting someone out. It was strange really.'
Television cameras had picked up Trescothick making some animated gestures in the dressing room and he explained: 'We were chatting on the balcony. Many in my time would have just dropped the elbow on him or something quite different. I was just laughing and joking about it.'
As for Root's uncharacteristic tirade, Trescothick added: 'I think they made a comment, didn't they? He (Krishna) tried to get after him and spark him up a little bit. Joe's normally the kind of guy who laughs and giggles and allows things to happen, but today he chose a different route. Today Joe bit back.'
Krishna admitted it was part of a deliberate ploy to unsettle England's best batter but insisted nothing untoward had been said.
'That was the plan, but I didn't really expect the couple of words that I said to get such a big reaction from him,' he said.
'It was a very small thing. I think it was just a competitive edge amongst us that was coming out. But I love the guy that he is, he's a legend of the game.'
Former England captain Sir Alastair Cook told BBC's Test Match Special the tactic may have been a smart one and predicted more of the same as the game moves towards its conclusion.
'Why wouldn't you try to upset Joe Root? His record against India is superb,' he said.
'You can say that it did work because Joe only got 29 when he normally averages 60 against them, so it's a success. Fair play to Krishna. I hope it didn't cross that line and was good old honest sledging. It definitely got Joe Root out of his bubble.
'We're in for some more fireworks. It's not going away for the next three days.'
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