5 Instances when teams regretted sledging opposition players

4. Shanon Gabriel’s homophobic remark against Joe Root, 2019

Joe Root is one of the nice guys in cricket, and people often think of the elegant batter as an easy target. It was the same case when England faced West Indies in the third Test in St. Lucia. England had already lost the series but were out to avoid a whitewash in the Test series.

Joe Root had endured a tough time in the series as he had failed to contribute with the bat on previous occasions. The right-hand batter was the subject of homophobic abuse in an over by West Indian pacer Shanon Gabriel, who asked him, “Do you like boys?”. Root responded brilliantly, which was picked up by the microphone: ‘Don’t use it as an insult. There’s nothing wrong with being gay.’

The Englishman was batting at 24 then and ended up scoring a fluently constructed century which ultimately resulted in England’s victory in the match. Gabriel later apologized for his comments and was banned for four matches for his remarks.