T20 Blast 2021: Joe Root bowls unseen off-spin bouncer, gets smashed to the boundary anyway

After being rested from the England limited-overs squads, Joe Root has been spending time with his Yorkshire teammates, who are currently playing in the T20 Blast 2021. Root has been tasked to lead the team in the absence of key players such Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, Dawid Malan, and captain David Willey. 

Root’s endeavor with the bat during the T20 competition hasn’t been top-notch. In three matches so far, he has been able to score only 65 runs, with a strike rate of 118. However, this hasn’t stopped the England Test captain from finding more ways to contribute to his county team. In a match against Leicestershire Foxes, the Yorkshire stand-in-skipper pulled out a trick from his armory, something which fans might not have witnessed from any other off-spinner. 

During this match between Yorkshire Vikings and Leicestershire Foxes, Root decided to take the ball in the powerplay overs. He bowled two overs and ended up conceding 18 runs. However, he also got a bit of success, having picked up the in-form opener of Leicestershire, Josh Inglis. At no. 3, Aaron Lilley arrived at the crease, which changed the course of the game. 

Arron Lilley’s 99 saves the day for Leicestershire Foxes against Yorkshire

As Lilley was taking the match away from Yorkshire, Root decided to bring himself into the attack once again to disrupt the momentum. There was a bit of onslaught going on as far as the Leicestershire batting was concerned, as their batters were going at the run rate of 10 runs per over. 

Root’s third over started with him getting pumped for a six. The next four deliveries didn’t see much happening but Root had a bright new idea for his next ball. He hurled down a quick bouncer slightly on the off-stump. As surprising as it was for the commentators and fans watching, it seemed Lilley was ready to play a shot. 

Lilley carved the ball over the off-side boundary, getting another fourHis knock helped his team get to the total of 207 for 3 while he ended his innings with an unbeaten 99. Leicestersh6ire eventually won the match by a margin of 34 runs. 

Root’s bouncer can be seen at 1 hour, 29 minutes, and 25 seconds mark in the replay of the game: