'F**k off' - Virat Kohli gives a fiery send-off to England skipper Joe Root in Ahmedabad Test

The much-awaited day-night Test between India and England got underway at the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. The visitors were lucky enough to win the toss and Joe Root had no hesitancy in batting first. But the pitch turned from as early as the 11th over of the Test and it caught England batsmen by surprise. Indian spinners spun a web around as the touring party lost four wickets in the first session itself.

Joe Root was one of the batsmen to fall, this time to Ravi Ashwin who pinned him in front of the stumps in the 22nd over of the day. Ashwin came round the wicket in the over and the ball pitched outside the off-side in the full-length area and then gripped & turned. Anticipating spin, Root hung back and this is where he made the mistake.

The ball did enough to hit his right leg and the fact that he shuffled so much while on the back-foot, the ball tracker showed that it was clipping the leg-stump. Root could’ve easily played the delivery on the front foot and negated the turn and even if he was hit on the pads, the ball would’ve needed to travel a lot, thereby would’ve missed the stumps as well. But that wasn’t the case and much to everyone’s surprise, Joe Root reviewed only out of hope.

Soon after he was given out, the usual Virat Kohli was on show who celebrated the wicket fiercely and also said, “F**k off.” Rather Kohli was so pumped up after the umpire gave him out that he pulled off the famous chainsaw celebration which Brett Lee and Sourav Ganguly used to do in their playing days.

Here’s the video:

pic.twitter.com/x9H1YfCILe

— Simran (@CowCorner9) February 24, 2021

President Ramnath Kovind inaugurated the stadium

However, prior to the star of play, India’s President Ramnath Kovind inaugurated the Motera Stadium which was also renamed after the country’s current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Home Minister Amit Shah was also present for the event even as he and the President met and greeted both the teams ahead of the start of play.