"Joe Root got lucky" - Ravi Shastri on England number 4 surviving dicey UltraEdge call

Ravi Shastri said Joe Root was lucky to survive and got the 'benefit of the doubt' during a dicey leg-before-wicket DRS against Ravindra Jadeja in the 15th over of the Hyderabad Test between India and England.

The right-hander went for the lap sweep on the second ball he faced. He didn't connect and got hit below the knee roll. The on-field umpire turned down India's appeal but Jadeja was confident and persuaded Rohit Sharma to review it.

UltraEdge took a long time to load. When it came up, it showed small spikes as the ball got close to Root. Similar spikes continued when it was adjacent to the bat and the third umpire found that enough to stay with the on-field call. However, later replays showed a split-screen view which had a gap between the bat and the ball.

"I think Joe Root got lucky here, there is a gap between bat and ball but the spikes were still there, the benefit of the doubt saved him," Shastri said on air.

The number four batter, who got out LBW six times in eight innings during England's 2021 tour here, survived getting out for a two-ball duck in the series opener.

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow take England past 100 at Lunch

Root settled soon after the early jitter and found excellent support from Jonny Bairstow at the other end.

The duo, who have played many a big knock together against India, put together 48 runs for the fourth wicket to take England to 108/3 at lunch.

This was the first time since 2018 that the English went past the three-digit score in the first session of a Test in India.

Earlier, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja helped India fight back following a quick start by the English openers. Ashwin snapped up the wickets of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett while Jadeja took out Ollie Pope.

Catch the live action here.

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