Prasidh Krishna sought to downplay his verbal exchange with Joe Root on the second day of The Oval Test. Not one to react to sledges usually, Root shot off an angry response when Prasidh tried to chirp with him during the second session of play. However, the India fast bowler brushed off the incident as banter but conceded that he was surprised Root took the bait.
England's batting stalwart walked out to the crease with the team in a strong position at 129/2 in response to India's 224. But India's fast bowlers began to find a bit of momentum through that early part of the session and Prasidh, in particular, struck early to dismiss half-centurion Zak Crawley. When he then beat Root with a delivery in the same over that shaped away after drawing the batter forward, Prasidh had words to say on his followthrough.
The very next ball, Root guided a boundary past gully and even offered a verbal reaction to Prasidh's action from before. At the change of overs, umpire Kumar Dharmasena intervened and had a long chat with Prasidh, with even KL Rahul jumping in the bowlers' defence.