England ended day 3 on 2/0 in their second innings.
England and India players got into a heated altercation right at the end of day three when the host openers began wasting time as India looked to bowl a couple of overs in the ongoing Test at Lord’s.
Both England and India finished level on 387 in their first innings each. While Joe Root made 104 for England, KL Rahul scored 100 for India as both teams started the game with a clean start.
When India came out to bowl at the near end of day three, Zak Crawley started delaying proceedings, signally pain in his hand. This led to Indian captain Shubman Gill having a heated altercation with Crawley and fellow opener Ben Duckett, and accusing them of wasting time.
After the end of day three, England bowling consultant Tim Southee and India opener KL Rahul agreed that the passionate discussion between the Indian fielders and the home team openers summed up a hard-fought day in Test cricket.
Speedster Jasprit Bumrah clapped sarcastically as Crawley appeared to fake discomfort in his hand after protecting the ball from the middle of the bat.
“It’s good. Always exciting to see both sides animated towards the end. Not sure what they were complaining about when Gill was lying down getting a massage in the middle of the day yesterday. It’s obviously part of the game, near the end of the day, it’s an exciting way to finish the day,” Southee said at the press conference.
Asked about Crawley in jest, Southee said, “Yeah, he (Crawley) will be assessed overnight. (I) Hope he’ll be alright to carry on tomorrow.”
Rahul said Crawley’s tactic was understandable considering he is an opener himself.
“What happened at the end is just part of the game now. I understand from an opening batter’s point of view. I know exactly what was going on, and everyone knows exactly what was going on. But an opening batter will understand completely what happened in the last five minutes,” he said.
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Gill, too, was fired up, and his raw emotions reflected on the audio from the stump mic.
“I have seen him fired up, but obviously we wanted to bowl two overs. There were six minutes left. Obviously, two overs is a no-brainer that any team will bowl two overs with six minutes to go. It’s a bit of theatrics at the end. We were all pumped up either way because we know how difficult it is for a batter to come in to bat for two overs when you have been in the field all day. We were hoping we could get a wicket there, and a wicket at the end of the day’s play would have been perfect for us,” Rahul added.
England will begin day four at 2/0.