Root's reverse-scoop exemplifies England's day of unforced errors

1st innings, New Zealand v England at Mount Maunganui, 16 Feb 2023
Root's ramp ends up in slip's hands! Wow, that's a huge twist to this innings. Root latched onto his favoured reverse slap, feet pointing down the crease again to take on Wagner's angle, but this time gets an under-edge on the stroke and Mitchell, cunningly pre-empting at a wide, almost third slip, watches well off the bat to pouch a priceless wicket. Now then…

1st innings, India v England at Rajkot, 17 Feb 2024
Root out against the run of play! And this is a big wicket for India's morale, inside five overs of day three. Root falls prey to his own improvisation, trying to play a reverse scoop/reverse ramp over the slip cordon, but Jaiswal at second slip keeps his eyes on the ball and takes a very tricky catch. This was a full ball just outside off, and Root wanted to make full use of the acres of space at deep third. Wasn't to be and that's England three down!

Almost exactly a year after Joe Root's first botched reverse-ramp-scoop, we had a second.

It's something Root hopes won't become a tradition, which he'll avoid given England are not due to be playing Test cricket this time next year. But it already has a tetchy family Christmas feel about it. A gathering of relatives with little between them but English cricket in their blood, having a civil enough time before inevitably descending into bitter arguments over contrasting ideologies.

Whichever side you're on, this is almost certainly an argument you have had. Both viewpoints come from the right place - a high regard for Root as a Test great. But today, one argument got a boost - and it wasn't to do with the fact he's flicked six fours and six sixes over his shoulder in the last 20 months.

England were 224 for 2, more than halfway to first-innings parity. India were a bowler light, having lost R Ashwin overnight to a family emergency, and going through the motions as Ben Duckett began to pick up where he left off from the 133 runs he'd scored the night before. Then, in the fifth over of day three, Root played what many have called the worst shot of his career.

The situation and what followed exacerbated the mistake. It ended up becoming the first domino in a cascade of 8 wickets for 95, giving up a first innings lead of 126 that swelled to 322 by stumps. It evoked painful memories of the Lord's Test against Australia last summer.

Australia also lost a world-class spinner in Nathan Lyon to a series-ending calf tear midway through day two. England responded almost immediately by hooking wildly to lose 3 for 34, before a more terminal 6 for 46 the next morning. They'd lose the match and, as much as they can blame the rain in Manchester, this was the moment they ceded, which, ultimately, cost them a shot at winning the Ashes. This match and series may go the same way.

The fact it was the reverse-ramp ladles on the emotion. The numbers show it's a strong shot for Root, and the time he has spent grooving it is almost matched by the amount of time he has put aside to state its case. "I average more with that than with the forward defence, and I've got out with that plenty of times!" he told ESPNcricinfo last August. "Just because someone thinks it's risky, doesn't necessarily mean it is."

Speaking at stumps, Duckett, who had scored 153 while the rest of his teammates could only muster 166 between them, doubled down on Root's behalf: "I'll be interested to know if those people were against it when he was hitting Pat Cummins for six in the summer".

The logic for playing the shot is easy to follow. Root uses it to throw a bowler off their length and shift the field to open a new gap, which is a worthy thing to try against Jasprit Bumrah. Though he might be one of the most unflappable fast bowlers to have played the game, challenging him in this way has its merit. Bumrah has accounted for Root nine times, including twice this series by trapping him on the crease - LBW in the first Test, then nicking a reverse-swinging delivery in the second. Why not give him something to worry about? Plus, third was vacant.

But the day was only 20 minutes old. Bumrah was only ever going to start with a short spell with a 40-over ball that could only rely on the morning moisture for another half-an-hour. Ashwin, their canniest operator, was not around. And having already guided a short-length delivery behind point along the floor for four - one that, actually, was better suited to being lifted over the cordon - he knew of other options. Even Mohammed Siraj was bemused by the choice Root made.

"The partnership that was growing between Duckett and Root, if they had continued for a while, it would have become difficult for us," said Siraj, who finished with 4 for 84. "But suddenly he played that shot, which didn't seem to be on, on this wicket."

For what it's worth, this was not even Root's worst shot of the tour. That honour goes to the second-innings hack across the line in Visakapatnam, which looped to backward point. The mitigation at the time was Root had woken that day feeling the effects from a virus that was beginning to move around the squad. He may go to bed tonight feeling worse.

It was clear when Root chose to advance to the first ball he faced from Bumrah today that he was desperate for a score. At the halfway stage of this five-Test tour, Root is averaging 14 from five innings with a highest score of 29. Most damning of all is he has now bowled more overs (94) than scored runs (70) in this series. His career average has dipped to 49.50.

Make no mistake, this is not solely on Root. For the third time in successive Tests, England's middle order flunked; wickets three to seven provided just 117 runs here in Rajkot, after 97 in the first innings at Hyderabad and just 68 in the first at Visakhapatnam.

Jonny Bairstow, now averaging just 19.6 on this tour, got a good ball from Kuldeep Yadav. Stokes, in the midst of a rebuild, slog-swept Ravindra Jadeja for a statement boundary but only found Bumrah at wide long-on. A ball later, his defiant partner Ben Foakes checked a push off Siraj's reversing delivery to Rohit Sharma at mid-on, leaving him with an average of 18.6. Varying degrees of fault still painting a familiar picture.

The knock-on effect of the collapse was felt harshly by England's bowlers, who, after toiling for the best part of five sessions, were back in the field after just 71 overs of rest in the hottest conditions of the match so far. Stokes decided not to use both of his seamers up front, which meant Mark Wood, who had removed Yashavi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill with the new ball on day one, was only brought on the 13th over to replace James Anderson at the Pavilion End. The Indian starlets ransacked 155 together in just 195 deliveries.

Having busted a gut through 27.5 overs to maintain high speeds, Wood's first delivery in the second innings registered at 82mph (132kph). He looked drained during his late spell of bouncers.

Anderson began frugally enough, trying to summon something out of nothing with a straighter line and fielders in front of the bat. He had conceded just 18 off 5.3 overs before Jaiswal launched an assault with a hooked six over square leg, a thick edge down to third and a pull behind square, both for four.

That was the veteran's final over before the spinners, with no runs to play with, wheeled away valiantly. Jaiswal had his way with them freeing his arms as he moved from 35 to 100 in 49 deliveries with six fours and five sixes. That he had to retire hurt on 104 showed just how taxing conditions were out there.

As ever, England responded to adversity with positivity. "Stokesy spoke to us before we went out to field and said he actually wanted us to get out today and have a bowl at them and get cracking with it," Duckett said. When asked for a prospective target, he simply replied, "The more, the better."

At times like this, it can seem like the disappointment of the punter is lost on the team. But that's kind of the point of this whole thing. By putting a little less on a sport riddled with stress and variables, they have won 14 out of 21 Tests, boasting a better win-loss record than any other team since it all began at the start of the 2022 summer.

And yet, for all the credit England have in the bank, this felt like an opportunity spurned. A chance to make a statement against an India uncharacteristically uncertain at home slipped away through nothing more than unforced errors.

Just like they did in the Ashes, England have played a lot of exceptional cricket in the first half of the series. But the fear is a team pushing to create memories through historic feats are in danger of fumbling two in the space of nine months.