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The third Test of the five-match series between India and England saw a lot of drama unfold. From verbal spats to constant sledging, almost the entire match was quite heated and there are possibilities that temperatures may flare again in fourth Test which is set to commence from July 23 in Manchester.
The third day of the Lord's Test saw India captain Shubman Gill lose his cool and have a heated argument with England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. This happened after Crawley had pulled away four times before facing a delivery fromn Jasprit Bumrah. This led to Gill accusing the England batter of time-wasting. Things only got worse when the next delivery hit the opener on the glove and he called in the physio to inspect.
This time almost the entire Indian started taunting Crawley using sarcastic clasps and also brutally sledged the batter. Before the end of the day, Gill also ended up having a spat with Duckett which only boiled tempers even more.
Brook blamed India for the verbal spats at Lord's
Eventually, England would go on to record a 22-run victory at Lord's and ahead of the Test at Old Trafford, Harry Brook blamed the Men in Blue for the heated on-field arguments and also launched a 'spirit of cricket' debate, stating how 11 Indian players went after 2 England batters.
“Yeah, absolutely. And we’d try and play in the spirit of the game as much as possible. And like you said, them lads went hard and Creeps and Ducky on that night when they Bumrah bowled that single over. So we watched that and we reassessed and we thought it was the right time to go back at them," Brook stated ahead of 4th Test.
However, Gill on the other hand, ended the debate once and for all by pointing out how England wasted time and arrived at the crease 90 seconds late. He went on to add that this act from the Three Lions was not in the spirit of cricket.
“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 said in the pre-match press-conference.
"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. 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," he added.
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Meanwhile, multiple changes are set to take place to India's playing XI for the fourth Test as both Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep have sustained injuries that will keep them out of action for the match. It will be interesting to see who the Indian team management decides to bring into the XI in the match that is set to commence from July 23 in Manchester.
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