The high-voltage drama that followed between England opener Zak Crawley and Indian players during the last five minutes of Day 3 of the third Anderson-Tendulkar Test at Lord’s on Saturday is grabbing a lot of eyeballs, with reactions coming in from different parts of the world.
Batting great Sunil Gavaskar opened up the whole saga, suggesting that the absence of key England players from the Indian Premier League (IPL) might have contributed to the growing animosity between the two sides.
“There is a reason why this happened. That’s because not a lot of England players are competing in the IPL,” said Gavaskar on air.
“That’s my thinking. From this England team, Joe Root did not play, Ben Stokes did not play. Most of these English players don’t play in the Indian Premier League. What has happened with other teams is that a lot of their players are in the IPL. They have mixed with the Indian players, travelled with them. They shared changing room. You see the players of other countries competing in the T20 league, and when they turn up against India in international cricket, there is no fight among the cricketers of both teams,” he added.
The fiery exchange in the final over on Saturday had a lot of dramatic visuals, with India’s captain Shubman Gill in the thick of it. Annoyed by Crawley’s time-wasting tactics that ensured India just got in one over as opposed to two that they would have hoped, Gill ran from the slips, hurled verbals at Crawley and Ben Duckett, pointed fingers, and mock-clapped at Crawley. The England openers also stood their ground, and gave it all back.
Gavaskar continued, “On the other hand, we don’t see this happening between the Indian and English players. This is what I keep saying, before the IPL, there was lot of animosity, bordering on being brutal, between some players. That intensity is still there, like Archer bowling to Yashasvi. There is lot of confrontation between India and England players because they don’t play in the IPL.”
Speaking on England and Crawley’s motives, he said, “…England wanting to make it the last over. The Indians thought it was may bit of gamesmanship. Maybe it was,” Sunil Gavaskar said on air after Day 3 ended. Zak Crawley has the right to call a physio as pain is an individual thing. Indian batters should also follow these tactics. They don’t do it,” he added.
