Root not offended by Kohli’s celebration

Kohli mocked Root after running him out at a crucial moment. England was sitting pretty at 216 for three when Kohli's brilliant direct hit dismissed Root for 80, triggering a collapse that saw it getting bowled out for 287. And Kohli rubbed salt into the wound by mimicking Root's 'mic drop' celebrations from when England won the one-day series at Headingley two weeks ago. 

Kohli, who also blew a couple of kisses and put his finger to his lips, accompanied the mic drop gesture by mouthing what looked like an obscenity. But Root chose not to criticise Kohli when asked about the incident. A smiling Root said: “It adds to the theatre of the game. It makes for entertaining cricket for everyone to watch.”

England opener Keaton Jennings said on Wednesday: “Everybody's entitled to celebrate how they want to. If that’s the way he celebrated, that's cool.”  That may probably not prompt match referee Jeff Crowe as the ICC looks to clamp down on bad behaviour, although Kohli has escaped censure in the past for more obvious displays of petulance.

Root, who became the quickest England batsman to reach 6000 runs earlier in the day, looked a safe bet to reach his 14th Test century in England’s 1,000th Test. But a poor decision from Jonny Bairstow to go for a quick two gave Kohli the chance to send the England skipper back to the pavilion, which he took with aplomb.

Kohli, off balance, picked up the ball and smashed the base of the stumps with a brilliant throw, leaving Root stranded well out of his ground despite a despairing dive. The celebration was a clear response to the moment England's Test captain theatrically dropped his bat after hitting the match-winning four in the ODI series victory at Headinley.

“First up, we should take our hats off to Virat Kohli. I said before this game that England had to beware his passion. We’ve heard about Kohli the batsman and Kohli the captain. But it was Kohli the fielder who changed the course of the match,” wrote former England captain Nasser Hussain in his column for an English newspaper.

“With just one-and-a-half stumps to aim at. It was a phenomenally athletic piece of fielding, and a classic example of how a captain can lift his side with one moment of brilliance,” added Hussain.

Nasser Hussain said he had no problem with Kohli’s celebration. “Basically, the guy doesn’t forget anything. After Root marked his hundred in the third one-day international at Headingley with that ‘mic-drop’ celebration, all the photos had Kohli in the background, quietly taking note of what he was watching. And so he blew a couple of kisses, put his finger to his lips, dropped an imaginary mic and possibly mouthed an obscenity. I don’t have a problem with any of that,” the former England captain explained.