Former India player Mohammad Kaif said that the confrontation between Shubman Gill and Zak Crawley at the end of Day 3’s play at Lord’s charged up an England team which had copped a lot of flak after the Edgbaston defeat. He said that England used that bust-up as fuel to motivate themselves and defeat India to go 2-1 up in the 5-match series on Monday.
“Shubman Gill’s fight with Zak Crawley charged England. After Edgbaston, there were questions about their batting, bowling and captaincy. But that incident fired up Stokes and he bowled an inspiring spells. It is wise to stick to the attitude that works for you. Gill will learn this the hard way,” Kaif posted on X.
On Saturday, the fiery exchange in the final over had a lot of dramatic visuals, with India’s captain 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 verbal abuses at Crawley and Ben Duckett, pointed fingers, and mock-clapped at Crawley. The England openers also stood their ground, and gave it all back.
Shubman Gill’s fight with Zak Crawley charged England. After Edgbaston, there were questions about their batting, bowling and captaincy. But that incident fired up Stokes and he bowled an inspiring spells. It is wise to stick to the attitude that works for you. Gill will learn…
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) July 15, 2025
The tensions would also boil over to the next day as Mohammed Siraj sent back Duckett on Day 4. Siraj proceeded to roar right in Duckett’s face, his eyes bulging out of their sockets and veins popping. There was even a light shoulder contact. Duckett didn’t seem to really look at the bowler at any point while Siraj did the opposite for him. The Indian pacer even got a little talking-to from the umpires after the whole exercise.
The tensions continued into the start of the fifth day with most of the animosity concentrated in the early exchanges, in which Jofra Archer dismissed Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar in a devastating early spell. Archer had donned the role of the pantomime villain in that period. He made sure to give send-offs to both the players that he dismissed. Even after he was taken off the attack, Archer remained in the batsmen’s faces, having some words with Nitish Kumar Reddy, notably. Brook could also be heard telling Reddy from the slips that he is no longer playing in the IPL.
Reddy also had a few words with Stokes but arguably the biggest flare-up was between Brydon Carse and Ravindra Jadeja about four overs before Lunch. Jadeja ran right into Carse while running the first of the two runs the batters ran off the last ball of that over. Stokes came in between to break the two players up. Both players seemed to be telling each other that they didn’t do it on purpose and to be fair to them, they did look like they were blissfully unaware of each other before colliding in the replay of the incident.
England won the Test by 22 runs but that was only after they dealt with 50 overs and one delivery of resistance from India’s last three wickets, anchored by Jadeja who stayed unbeaten on 61 off 181 balls.
