England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick felt that the on-field spat between Shubman Gill and Zak Crawley helped in bringing life back into the match. The final over of the third day of the Lord's Test between England and India saw a lot of drama take place. After Crawley pulled out four times before facing the third delivery of the over from Jasprit Bumrah, Gill exchanged a few words with the Englishman and accused him of time-wasting.
Gill had an on-field argument with both Crawley and Duckett
Things got even more spicier when the next delivery of the over hit Crawley on the glove and he called in the physio which once again lead to the Indian team taunting the England batter. Gill also had a heated verbal exchange with Ben Duckett before the third day drew to a close.
Trescothick feels that franchise cricket has made things friendlier between players from different countries and heated on-field incidents help in making the atmosphere more competitive.
"Having that competitive edge definitely helps the situation. It helps the atmosphere in the series. "Cricket has got a bit more friendly over the past few years because the players are together in franchise tournaments all over the world. Sometimes it's good to create something in the game" Trescothick said after Day 4 of Lord's Test.
"Both teams are passionate about playing the game and it is understandable that at times it gets to a boiling point. There will be things that happen between the two teams but both teams know there's a line you can't cross but it's not really been troubled too much," he added.
Trescothick further remarked that the first hour of play on the fifth day will be very important and even went on to claim that it will decide the fate of the match.
"It will revolve around the first hour of the day and how positive India can be or how dominant we can be and how many wickets we can get," Trescothick stated.
Meanwhile, after setting up a target of 193 for India on Day 4, the bowlers helped England in getting back into the game. Firstly, Jofra Archer dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck before Brydon Carse ended up getting the big wickets of both Karun Nair and Shubman Gill. The hosts wrapped up the day with Ben Stokes dismissing Akash Deep which restricted India to 58/4 and now they will be requiring 135 runs to win the match on Day 5.
With KL Rahul unbeaten on 33 and Rishabh Pant the next in line to bat, the Men in Blue still have a great chance to script a famous victory at Lord's. However, after getting four wickets during the final session of Day 4, England will fancy their chances of emerging victorious and taking a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.