Credit: ICC
Team India captain Shubman Gill got involved in a heated exchange with England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, at the end of the third day of the Lord’s Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025. Following the conclusion of the first innings of the Lord’s Test, England openers walked into the middle late and made efforts to delay the play. England wanted to play one over to conclude the day while Team India were with the intention of bowling a couple of overs to end the day. England opener delayed the deliveries and also complained about the side screen.
When Zak called a physio after a ball from Jasprit Bumrah hit the England opener’s finger, it was the last straw and Gill’s reaction emerged eventually. A day before the fourth Test in Manchester, Gill appeared in a pre-match press conference and raised questions on England’s spirit of the game. “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, they use this. Even if we were in a position, we would have also liked to play lesser 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,” said Gill.
The India captain also added, “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 it had 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.”
Shubman Gill will be expected to step up in the do-or-die game
In the do-or-die match at Greater Manchester, Gill will be expected to lead Team India from the front. The right-handed batter failed to be effective in the third game played at Lord’s, scoring only 16 and six.
In Manchester, India have never won any Test match after nine outings and noting this fact, his responsibility will be to play with discipline in the big game. However, despite his miserable batting shows at Lord’s, he is the highest run-getter in this tournament so far, racking up 607 runs in six innings of three matches.
