While Indian captain Shubman Gill had created history at Edgbaston, amassing 430 runs to have the second-best aggregate in a Test match, the 25-year-old faced disappointment with the bat in the third Test between India and England in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Lord’s. Gill made 16 and six in the Test as India suffered a 22-run defeat.
But it was his on-field confrontation with England openers Zak Crawley in the last few minutes on the third day of the Test, which put the spotlight on the Indian skipper. With England openers coming out to bat with close to ten minutes of the day’s play remaining, Crawley’s attempts to delay the play led to some heated words exchanged between Gill and Crawley, with Gill also pointing fingers towards the England batsman. Australian women’s captain Alyssa Healy has shared how teams going at Gill can rattle the young Indian captain.
“I read some stuff about when teams go hard at (Shubman) Gill, it can rattle him a little bit. So if England have got even half a sniff at that, then that’s exactly what’s going to happen, knowing how successful he was in those first two Test matches, there’s a way to get under his skin a little bit,” Healy said while speaking on Willow Talk Podcast.
In a Test match, where Indian top-order batsmen failed, it was Ravindra Jadeja’s defiant innings of 61 not out which put India closer to the target. The penultimate day of the Test would also see Indian bowlers going hard at English batsmen, with Mohammad Siraj giving a send-off to Ben Duckett. With England setting a target of 193 runs, the England team, led by Ben Stokes, who took three wickets in the second innings, won the Test by 22 runs. Healy believes that the England team will go hard at captain Shubman Gill in the remaining two Tests too. “Teams generally go hard at the skipper. If you can get the skipper cheaply or get under their skin and rattle a few cages in that regard then you feel you are on your way. So if England even sniff even a little bit of weakness there, they’ll ram that home. They’ll go hard,” she added.
Earlier, former England batsman Jonathan Trott too had criticised Shubman Gill for getting confrontational with England batsmen. Trott also talked about the incident with a possible reference to former Indian captain Virat Kohli.
“We don’t know what went on when England were fielding, whether they were dishing it out. But I don’t like the acting from Shubman Gill, as a captain you set the tone. Pointing fingers and getting very confrontational , very much like a previous captain before getting in the face of the opposition. I am all for being competitive and being tough on the field, sometimes you have to rise above it. It sets up nicely for tomorrow’s play,” Trott had said on JioHotstar.
