Ravi Shastri was at his absolute best when the camera stumbled upon a ball boy who had fallen asleep during England’s batting against India on Day 1 of the 4th Test at Ranchi on Friday. England were 231/6, just after Ben Foakes was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj in the third session when the boy appeared on the big screen. Caught in the middle of a nap, the boy had to catch himself as the crowd broke into a collective laughter.
The image caught Shastri’s attention, who was in the middle of his commentary duties, and the former India head coach just warmed up with a bit of humour before launching his tracer bullet. “Well, looks like that guy had some very nice tea,” he said on air just to get a few laughs going.
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With the noise of the crowd possibly waking him up, the next frame captured the boy awake but only just, as he unleashed a full-tilt yawn, attempted a bottle-flipping challenge, and well… tended to an area of his body that demanded relief from itching. And that is when Shastri really came into his elements and dished out this absolute gold.
Watch the video below:
“Oh! The big yawn. Yeah, wake up, wake up! Have a glass of water. The cricket is getting interesting. Wake up, old boy,” he said before letting out a sarcastic and outrightly funny “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” to the itching part. We guess, there is a reason why Shastri is best at what he does. There is hardly a match to him when it comes to brightening up the situation.
A topsy-turvy day for India
India began the opening day of the Ranchi Test on a high as debutant Akash Deep, coming in as a replacement for the rested Jasprit Bumrah, wreaked havoc on the England top order. The right-arm pacer from Bengal overcame a no-ball setback to pick up three quick wickets as England were reduced to 112/5. Akash had castled England opener Zak Crawley but his celebrations were cut short as the umpire lifted his left hand and signalled a no-ball. But it did little to hamper the spirits of Arshdeep, who just three overs later officially got off the mark by getting Ben Duckett to nick one to Dhruv Jurel.
Akash picked up his second wicket two balls later, dismissing Ollie Pope after India struck with their only successful review of the day. The India pacer was over the moon, and rightly so. Two brought three as in the next over, the man he almost dismissed earlier, Crawley, was left in shambles. Akash had three and India were cock-a-hoop.
But when everything seemed lost, England were lifted by a familiar match-winner who rose to the occasion. Joe Root, statistically India’s biggest English nemesis, curbed his Bazball instincts and played a knock the world usually associates with him – route to scoring a 31st Test century – 10th against India which is the most by any batter. Supported by Ben Foakes’ 47, Ollie Robinson’s dogged 31, England finished the day on 302/7.
