Joe Root: England ace batter Joe Root hailed Mohammed Siraj as a fierce competitor, but called out the fake angriness he puts on show against the opposition. The Indian pacer has been an absolute workhorse for his side as well as the leading wicket-taker of the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar series.
The spotlight was on Siraj on Day 4 of the fifth Test in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah as England attempted to chase down a steep 374-run target in the final innings of the series. Playing his fifth match on the trot, the seamer bowled a probing opening spell, particularly against Ben Duckett, before making the breakthrough by trapping Ollie Pope LBW once again.
Joe Root, who was dismissed by the Indian seamer in the first innings, had a spirited battle against him in the second innings en route to a memorable hundred.
The ace batter remarked how he is able to see through Mohammed Siraj’s facade while declaring that he is a true warrior at heart.
“He (Siraj) is a character, he is a warrior, he is a real warrior. He is someone you want on your team, he is that kind of character. He gives everything for India and credit to him for that. He’s got this like fake angriness about him sometimes, which I can see straight through. I enjoy playing against him, he has got a big smile on his face,” Root said during the press conference after Day 4 (via Times of India).
Joe Root scored a brilliant 105 runs off 152 deliveries, playing a crucial role with Harry Brook in the run chase. Mohammed Siraj, on the other hand, has figures of 2-95 so far after bowling 26 overs in the innings already.
Joe Root also reserved praise for Siraj’s bowling partner, Prasidh Krishna, who dismissed him in the 73rd over of the innings. The pair had a brief altercation during the first innings, and the batter confirmed that his frustration after losing his wicket stemmed from the fact that he failed to get his team over the line, and not because he lost out to the Indian pacer.
“Prasidh is a proven performer, he is a brilliant player. You don’t play for India as a seamer without having a huge amount of talent. Clearly he is going to do great things in the game, but it was not anything between the two of us, that was more frustration from my part for not getting us over the line. That is where the frustration came from. There was no overhang from what happened in the first innings or anything like that,” he added.
The players had exchanged a warm smile at the start of the day, confirming that all is well between the pair after the heated moment earlier in the contest.
“I was more disappointed I missed out” – Joe Root on punching his bat after being dismissed in ENG vs IND 2025 5th Test
Joe Root cut a frustrating figure after nicking one to Dhruv Jurel just as England were set to assume total control of the run chase. Having lost Jacob Bethell’s wicket, a couple of overs back, the double strike gave the opposition a glimmer of hope.
The ace batter revealed that he punched his bat in anger after being dismissed because he felt that the delivery was perfectly in line for a comfortable boundary.
“I mean in that scenario, we’d obviously come back out after the break. It started to do a little bit more, they bowled in some really good areas for that period of time and got it moving around, and I was more disappointed I missed out on what I thought should have gone for four,” Root said.
Not much play was possible after Joe Root was dismissed, since poor light and rain made an appearance to take the contest into the final day. England are still 35 runs away from an outright series win, while India need four more wickets to level the series.
