WATCH: Stuart Broad offers mock handshake to unimpressed Joe Root amid Coronavirus threat

A day after England skipper Joe Root revealed that the team was going to ditch handshakes amid the growing threat of the novel coronavirus, teammate Stuart Broad invited ire from the captain after a gesture. Joe Root said his players will not be shaking hands on their tour of Sri Lanka in a bid to avoid the coronavirus. The Yorkshire batsman said instead of shaking hands, England players will greet each other with fist bumps. England were hit by a series of gastroenteritis and flu problems before and during the first Test on their recent tour of South Africa.

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Stuart Broad mocks Joe Root's gesture

Stuart Broad took to Twitter to post a video where he is seen reading a news piece about joe root announcing England's doing-away with handshakes and then offers a handshake to Joe root, who is seated across him. A visibly miffed Joe root can be seen staring back at Stuart Broad. England will play the first of two practice games against a Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI in Katunayake on Saturday ahead of the Tests, which will form part of the ICC World Test Championship

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Coronavirus forces England to ditch handshakes

"After the illnesses that swept through the squad in South Africa, we are well aware of the importance of keeping contact to a minimum and we've been given some really sound and sensible advice from our medical team to help prevent spreading germs and bacteria," Root said.

"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 anti-bacterial wipes and gels we've been given in our immunity packs.

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"There is no suggestion that the tour will be affected, 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."

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