‘I won’t drop the mic again’

LEEDS: Joe Root is keen to utilise his experience batting against spinner Kuldeep Yadav in limited-overs cricket during England’s upcoming Test series with India.

But Test captain Root made it clear one of the biggest lessons he had learnt from a One-day International series-clinching hundred at his Headingley home ground on Tuesday was never to repeat his unusual celebration.

When the Yorkshire batsman hit the winning boundary that both took him to exactly 100 not out and clinched an eight-wicket win with 33 balls to spare that saw England seal a 2-1 success in a three-match series, he dropped his bat.

It was an echo of the ‘mic-drop’ end of set routine favoured by rock stars and comedians, and far removed from the traditional cricket gesture of raising the bat to acknowledge a hundred.“It was something that I immediately regretted,” said Root.

“I’ve not heard the end of it, it was literally the most embarrassing thing I’ve done on a cricket field. I don’t think it will be the last I hear of it from the group — they’ve been hammering me,” he added of the reaction of his England team-mates.

Far more encouraging for England was the return to form of Root, who had struggled against Kuldeep, who as a left-arm wrist-spinner is a rarity in world cricket.

England, who in limited-overs cricket are captained by Eoin Morgan, are now number one in the ODI rankings and among the favourites to win next year’s World Cup on home soil.But they are fifth in an equivalent International Cricket Council Test table topped by India.

Root urged the Test side to follow the England one-day team’s desire for individual and collective improvement, which was fuelled in part by a woeful first-round exit at the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.“It’s something we are trying really hard to replicate within the Test team,” Root said.