England opener Zak Crawley on Wednesday (February 24) admitted that the visitors were not happy as some '50-50' umpiring decisions didn’t go in their favour on the opening day of the pink ball Test against India in Ahmedabad.
WATCH: England players argue with umpire after Gill gets declared not out, Kohli too reacts
He was asked particularly about third umpire C Shamshuddin overruling the on-field soft signal OUT of Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma declared not out of a stumping appeal off the bowling of Jack Leach.
“It's very frustrating. We're behind the game and we wanted those little 50-50 situations to go our way. That's the way it goes sometimes. It's certainly not our day. It does not help our chances,” Crawley said at the virtual news conference after the end of the day's play.
“When we batted, Jack had one where it didn’t quite carry and it seemed like they looked at it from five or six different angles. When we were fielding it seemed like they looked at it from one angle. That’s where the frustrations lie," he added.
“I can’t say whether they were out or not out, but I think the frustrations lie with not checking more thoroughly.”
After Gill was given not out, England players such as Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Joe Root were seen arguing with on-field umpire Anil Chaudhary.
When asked about the same, Crawley said: “I would like to answer but I’ll leave that to the captain and senior players. As a young player I’ll keep my nose out of that situation, that’s for Joe, I think.”
Zak Crawley was the lone warrior with the bat for England as the visitors succumbed to India's spin might to collapse to 112 all out inside two sessions. The right-handed opener scored 53 off 84 balls with 10 boundaries.
“It was easy to bat against the seamers, never easy to bat against spinners in these conditions. We should have got a few runs. if 200 would have been a nice and competitive score,” Crawley said.
Asked whether England erred in picking only one premier spinner in Leach, Crawley said: “We have very strong seamers and back them on any surface. It is above my pay grade, for sure, but I think that’s the way we were looking at it.”
“If we had got a few more runs it might have helped our bowlers out a lot more. At the moment we are probably behind the game but there is plenty of time to fight back with our bowling line-up.”
Crawley also expressed his disappointment in not converting his fifty into a big score.
“It is always nice to score a fifty in a Test match but you want to kick on and score more. For my first Test back, it was nice to get some runs.
"I think it is easier to bat during the day (in day-night Tests) but it is different over here to what it is in England,” he said.
India ended the opening day on 99/3, trailing England by 13 runs. While Rohit Sharma remained unbeaten on 57, Ajinkya Rahane was batting on 1 not out.
(With PTI inputs)
