Everybody is entitled to celebrate how they want to, says Keaton Jennings on Virat Kohli's mock celebration

08/02/2018

England opener Keaton Jennings played down any suggestions of a rift with the Indian team after Virat Kohli mocked Joe Root’s ‘Mic drop’ celebration on day one of the Edgbaston Test. Jennings further praised Root’s knock in difficult circumstances as he lauded Ravichandran Ashwin’s brilliant spell.

England find themselves in a tricky position on day two of the Edgbaston Test after a superb performance by the Indian bowling department, especially Ravichandran Ashwin, had the hosts struggling at 285/9 at the end of day one. Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow managed to get 80 and 70 respectively in an otherwise lacklustre display from the English batting order, along with opener Keaton Jennings, who scored 40 after Alastair Cook’s early dismissal.

However, things got heated in the middle after a stunning run-out caused by Indian captain - Virat Kohli’s throw sent Joe Root back to the pavilion. But Kohli’s epic celebration of a ‘Mic drop’ that was aimed at Root caused some controversy in England. But Jennings played down the rumors of any differences between the two teams over the incident as he reckoned that each player had a right to celebrate in a manner that they felt was right.

“It’s fine. Everybody is entitled to celebrate how they want to. He celebrated, and that’s cool,” Jennings said at the end of day one.

Jennings lauded the exploits of Ravichandran Ashwin, who ended the day with figures of 4/60 on his comeback to the Indian Test team. The English opener also commended his skipper’s performance at the top order as he backed Root to come good over the entirety of the series.

“If we can come out and be pretty relentless in the way we go about hitting our areas, at some point, you don’t actually know what a good score is until both sides have batted,” Jennings said.

"Root played fantastically well. The way he goes about constructing his innings, builds it, communicates with me as a young cricketer, it is absolutely phenomenal. Having batted with him today, he’s taught me a hell of a lot, which is awesome, just to watch a master at his work.

“He’s a fantastic player, fantastic guy and to watch him go about building a Test innings on a pretty tough surface was pretty good. I suppose it’s pretty disappointing for him personally not to go on and get a really big score,” Jennings added.

Everybody is entitled to celebrate how they want to, says Keaton Jennings on Virat Kohli's mock celebration

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