The Indian skipper had confronted Zak Crawley for his time-wasting tactics at Lord's.
Shubman Gill's aggressive demeanour was one of the major talking points during the third India versus England Test at the Lord’s Cricket Ground.
The Indian skipper confronted Zak Crawley towards the end of the third day’s play as he felt that the English opener was causing delays time to avoid facing more overs.
On the eve of the fourth Test in Manchester, Gill addressed the time-wasting controversy, stating that arriving 90 seconds late to the crease was not within the spirit of the game.
Reflecting on the incident, former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik on Wednesday (July 23) said he has been impressed with Shubman Gill standing his ground and showing leadership so early in his tenure as captain.
“I have really enjoyed him as a captain so far. On the field, he is improving. But off the field is where is where I have been most impressed. I think yesterday’s press conference was absolutely box office,” Karthik said on Sky Sports.
“I like it, it is good to be feisty, you need to have an identity as a captain. And Shubman Gill, from that third day at Lord’s, has shown that he has a lot of aggression inside him. The result may not have gone his way but the point is it has made for a thrilling Test series so far and his captaincy is right at the forefront of it, backed by his batting skills as well,” Karthik added.
In the pre-match presser, Gill shared his perspective on the entire episode, saying: “A lot of people have been talking about it, so let me just clear the air, for once and for all, the English batsmen on that day, they 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 (delaying tactic), even if we were in a position, we would have also liked to play lesser overs, but there is 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 way of spirit of the game," he added.
What caught everyone by surprise was the fact that Shubman Gill, known for his calm and composed nature, went at Crawley with hard expletives and obscene gestures.
“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 am 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," Gill stated.
“But it is just, you are playing a game, you are playing to win, and there are a lot of emotions involved, and when you see there are things happening, that should not happen, sometimes the emotions come out of nowhere," he remarked.