Prasidh Krishna sought to downplay his verbal exchange with Joe Root on the second day of The Oval Test. Not one to react to sledges usually, Root shot off an angry response when Prasidh tried to chirp with him during the second session of play. However, the India fast bowler brushed off the incident as banter but conceded that he was surprised Root took the bait.

England's batting stalwart walked out to the crease with the team in a strong position at 129/2 in response to India's 224. But India's fast bowlers began to find a bit of momentum through that early part of the session and Prasidh, in particular, struck early to dismiss half-centurion Zak Crawley. When he then beat Root with a delivery in the same over that shaped away after drawing the batter forward, Prasidh had words to say on his followthrough.

The very next ball, Root guided a boundary past gully and even offered a verbal reaction to Prasidh's action from before. At the change of overs, umpire Kumar Dharmasena intervened and had a long chat with Prasidh, with even KL Rahul jumping in the bowlers' defence.

"I don't know why Rooty [reacted]," he told the BBC's Test Match Special. "I just said, 'You're looking in great shape,' and then it turned into a lot of abuse and all of that," The 29-year-old fast bowler said.

At the press conference a little later, Prasidh said it had been a strategy of his to try and get Root off his game but there was nothing antagonistic about the exchange to add to the other sparks that have been lit through the series. "That was the plan, but I didn't expect the couple of words I said to get such a big reaction from him," he said.

"That's just who I am when I'm bowling, when I'm enjoying. If it means that I have a bit of a chatter with the batter... and it does help me when I can get under the nerves of the batsman and get a reaction from them. But I love the guy that he is. He is a legend of the game and I think it is great when two people are out there wanting to do the best and be a winner at a given moment."