Team India skipper Shubman Gill has opened up on scuffle with Zak Crawley during the third Test against England at the Lord's Cricket Ground. Gill said it was unacceptable for England openers to come to the middle 90 seconds late, claiming it was not in the spirit of the game.
The closing minutes of day three saw Gill make some animated gestures towards Crawley, who had called for the physio from the England camp after copping a blow to his finger. Nevertheless, the Indian players accused the home side of wasting time to avoid playing one over. Tensions boiled over between the two sides even the following day.
Speaking at the presser ahead of the fourth Test against England in Manchester, Gill said he wished to clear the air on the incident and explained:
"Yes, lot of people have been talking about it. Let me just clear the air for once and for all. The English batsmen had 7 minutes of play left that day. They were 90 seconds late to come to the crease. Not 10, Not 20, 90. Most of the teams use this. Even if we were in that position, we would've liked to play lesser overs but there is a manner to do. If you get hit on your body physios are allowed to come, that is fair but to be able to come 90 seconds late to the crease is not something I think comes in the spirit of the game."
"We're not going to take a backward step" - Ben Stokes
Meanwhile, England skipper Ben Stokes offered a different view of it in the presser, claiming that they won't sledge the opposition by themselves but will not take it lying down either. He said, as quoted by India Today:
"It's not something that we're gonna purposely go out and look to start again because then that'll take our focus off what we need to do out in the middle. But by no means that, we're not going to take a backward step and let the opposition try and be confrontational towards us and not try and give a bit back."
Gill, who is the highest run-getter in the ongoing series with 607, produced scores of 16 and 6 at Lord's. Hence, he will be looking to make amends at Old Trafford.
