Shubman Gill ends Zak Crawley sledging debate once and for all: ‘Not 10, not 20. England were 90 seconds late'

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is heating up. The upcoming fourth Test in Manchester promises to be a cracker as bad blood from the previous match at Lord's is set to spill over. India captain Shubman Gill on Tuesday detailed what exactly happened on Day 3 of the Lord's Test, where he lost his cool and had a go at England openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley for deliberately wasting time. Shubman Gill sets the record straight, details what exactly happened on Day 3 of the Lord's Test(Action Images via Reuters)
On Day 3 of the Lord's Test, which England eventually won by 22 runs, the hosts had to face a tricky six minutes before the close of play. India could have bowled two overs in this time span. However, Zak Crawley kept backing away after every delivery bowled by Jasprit Bumrah, ensuring India didn't get a second over in.
Shubman Gill even charged towards the stumps and hurled "grow some f****** b***s' towards Zak Crawley. This was not the end of the matter, as a few balls later, Gill had another heated exchange with the right-handed batter after he called for a physio after getting hit on the hand.
The entire Indian side charged towards Crawley and Duckett, as no side took a backseat, making their intentions known. After the end of the Lord's Test, the England camp launched a 'spirit of cricket' debate, saying they also had a go at India on the final day after India's 11 guys went hard against 2 of their openers.
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Gill, however, set the record straight, saying England batters arrived at the crease 90 seconds late on the third day, and then they wasted more time, which was not in the 'spirit of the game.'
'A lot of people have been talking about this, so let me just clear the air for once and for all. The English batters on that day had seven minutes of play left. They were 90 seconds late to come to the crease,' Gill told reporters on the eve of the Manchester Test.
"Not 10, not 20, 90 seconds late. Yes, most of the teams use this tactic. Even if we were in a position, we would have also liked to play fewer overs. But there's a manner to do it. 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," he added.
'Not something I'm proud of'
Gill also stated that he is not really proud of what happened on the pitch during the third day of the Lord's Test. He said that a lot of things happened on the field that shouldn't have, and this led to him losing his cool.
'But 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, had happened. And it's not, I wouldn't say it was something that I'm very proud of,' said Gill.
'But there was a lead-up and build-up to that. It didn't just come out of nowhere. And we had no intention of doing that whatsoever. But it's just, 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,' he added.
England currently lead the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy and India face a must-win situation in Manchester.