Both teams have had more than few confrontations at Lord's.
India had equalled England’s first innings total of 387 all out with their first innings reply through KL Rahul’s hundreds and fifties from Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. The sun was setting on the horizon, and Shubman Gill wanted to sneak in as many overs as possible. Jasprit Bumrah steamed in for the fourth ball when opener Zak Crawley moved out midway through the run-up. He signalled to someone blocking the sightscreen to move away. Indian captain Shubman Gill was not happy. He hurled words at the lanky batter, which meant ‘get on with it.’ Commentator Sunil Gavaskar has shared his perspective on the drama unfolding during this ENG vs IND Test series.
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
23/2
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
175/5
180/7
MI New York won by 5 runs
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
As Bumrah bowled the fifth ball, which stuck on the pitch and then thudded into Crawley’s bottom hand as he stood aside yet again. Bumrah had an incredulous expression on his face as he mocked Crawley with clapping. The Indian fielders in the slips and the circle joined him. Gill and Crawley then faced off yet again, with Gill mockingly signalling to the England dressing room for a substitute.
The entire Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy has been rife with spicy confrontations and flowing banters. Both teams have matched each other in intensity. Mohammed Siraj, who had asked Joe Root for ‘Bazball’ in the first innings, couldn’t care less about a possible demerit point when he celebrated Duckett’s wicket in his face and clashed shoulders with the left-hander.
Gill, who scored a double century and a hundred in the second Test at Edgbaston, was mocked by Crawley in the slips for having sacrificed a winning chance by batting for the majority of the fourth day.
Many commentators acknowledged that it has been a fiercely competitive series due to the war of words. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar felt it was the England players’ non-participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL) that had been the cause for animosity between both sets of players.
ALSO READ:
Gavaskar pointed to the fiery spell delivered by a returning Jofra Archer to dismiss his Rajasthan Royals teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal, as well as other verbal battles, to make his case.
“That’s my thinking. From this England team, Joe Root did not play, Ben Stokes did not play. Most of these English players don’t play in the Indian Premier League. What has happened with other teams is that a lot of their players are in the IPL. They have mixed with the Indian players, travelled with them. They shared changing room. You see the players of other countries competing in the T20 league, and when they turn up against India in international cricket, there is no fight among the cricketers of both teams,” Gavaskar said on air.
Stokes had suffered a serious injury before the IPL 2025, due to which he was unable to appear for Chennai Super Kings. Joe Root was not picked in the auction.
Besides these two seniors missing out, there were other absentees. Harry Brook has been banned for two years. He pulled out of the tournament for personal reasons after being bought by Delhi Capitals in the auction.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.