The fiery scenes that one witnessed at the Lord’s refused to go away in Manchester. On the eve of the fourth Test here, India captain Shubman Gill has said England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett arriving 90 seconds late to the crease on Day 3 of the Lord’s Test wasn’t in the spirit of the game as he went on to detail the incident that stoked fire to the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
As Gill sat down to address the media on the eve of the fourth Test, he was asked if his confrontation with Crawley that led to England’s aggressive response. “To be able to come 90 seconds late on the crease is not something that I would think comes in the spirit of the game. And just leading up to that event, a lot of things that we thought should not have happened didn’t happen. And I wouldn’t say it was something that I’m very proud of, but there was a lead-up and build-up to that,” Gill said in Manchester on Tuesday.
Gill then went on to explain his version of the incident, visuals of which went immediately viral. “So let me just clear the air for once and for all. The English batsmen on that day, they had seven minutes of play left. They were 90 seconds late to come to the crease. Not 10, not 20, 90 seconds late. Yes, most of the teams, they use this. Even if you were in a position, you would have also liked to play lesser overs. But there’s a manner to do it,” Gill said.
On the third evening, India ended up bowling only one over with Jasprit Bumrah too visibly upset over Crawley’s antics after he pulled-out mid-way through the pacer’s run-up. It led to Gill and the rest of the slip cordon having a few words with the England opener. And moments later, as Crawley called on the physio after one of the deliveries brushed his hand, Gill was seen wagging his finger at Crawley. “And we felt, yes, if you get hit on your body, the physios are allowed to come on. And that is something that is fair. It didn’t just come out of nowhere. And we had no intention of doing that whatsoever. But you’re playing a game, you’re playing to win, and there are a lot of emotions involved. And when you see there are things happening that should not happen, sometimes the emotions come out of nowhere,” Gill added.
With England leading the series 2-1, the fourth Test at Manchester begins on Wednesday.
