Stuart Broad mocks Joe Root's 'no handshake policy' amid Coronavirus outbreak
England captain Joe Root on Tuesday revealed that England players will not engage in handshakes with one another during their tour to Sri Lanka and would rather greet using "the well-established fist bump". Amid the coronavirus outbreak and after their recent visit to South Africa where almost half of their Test squad fell ill due to gastroenteritis or flu, England have sought to take player's health with utmost importance. Post the revelation by the England skipper, teammate Stuart Broad mocked Root by offering to shake hands while on a flight.
After showing a news article on Root's comment, Broad turned the camera on Root, who was sitting diagonally behind him, and offered to shake hands.
Watch the video here...
"After the illnesses that swept through the squad in South Africa, we are well aware of the importance of keeping contact to a minimum," Root said before the team's departure on Monday night.
"We've been given some really sound and sensible advice from our medical team to help prevent spreading germs and bacteria."
"We are not shaking hands with each other - using instead the well-established fist bump - and we are washing hands regularly and wiping down surfaces using the antibacterial wipes and gels we've been given in our immunity packs."
There have been cases of coronavirus in Sri Lanka and England are not expecting the team to be affected by the outbreak.
"There is no suggestion that the tour will be affected," Root said, "but of course it is an evolving situation so we are in regular contact with the authorities and will proceed as advised, but at this stage we fully expect the tour to continue as planned."
This series proves crucial for England who will be looking to add 12- points from the two-Test series to climb up the ladder in World Test Championship points table.
