Provoked Gill blasts England for 'lacking spirit of game'

Manchester: A series that was played in good spirits suddenly turned intense on the third evening of the Lord’s Test when India skipper Shubman Gill had a go at Zak Crawley over English opener’s delaying tactics. India had seven minutes to bowl at England in the second innings and there was perceptible delay in the arrival of Crawley and Ben Duckett to the crease. Dinesh Karthik on commentary said the innings started 90 seconds behind schedule.

The Indians, hoping to bowl at least two overs in order to give themselves the best chance of taking a wicket or two, were visibly enraged and things came to a boil when Crawley pulled out of a Jasprit Bumrah delivery midway early in the over. Words were exchanged with Gill not holding back one bit. It worsened when Crawley called for the physio after being stuck on the gloves in the fifth ball with the Indian team converging on Crawley, Duckett intervening and the umpires separating the players. This hostile atmosphere overflowed over the next two days with players from camps having a go at each other verbally and celebrating the fall of wickets exuberantly. 

While the India and England players didn’t find fault in the aggression, saying so long as the line is not crossed it’s fair because a match has to be won, a section of the English media reckon Gill stoked the fire. The India skipper was asked about the sledging on the eve of the fourth Test and whether those tactics backfired as the visitors suffered a 22-run defeat in the end. Gill, who was composed during Lord’s post-match interaction when asked about the same, didn’t hold back this time.

“Yes, a lot of people have been talking about it. So let me just clear the air for once and for all,” started Gill, clearly incensed at the question posed by an English journalist. “The English batsmen on that day 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 use this. Even if you were in a position, you 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.

“But to come 90 seconds late to 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 happened. And it's not... I wouldn't say it was something that I'm very proud of, 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 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.”