Gill and Crawley were involved in a spat.
The England vs India Test series had many fiery moments, but one that truly stood out was a spat between Zak Crawley and Shubman Gill at Lord’s. During the end moments of Day 3, Crawley pointed at the sight screen, saying he had issues with it, which was a time-wasting tactic to avoid playing many overs.
However, India were not pleased with it, and Gill went on to say, “Grow some f****** ba**s!!”, a subtle way of saying the batter was scared to face the bowler. Soon, things were heated, and Crawley and Ben Duckett exchanged a few words with the Indian captain before the game resumed.
While speaking to The Grade Cricketer, Duckett recalled the moment, saying that Crawley was well within his rights to avoid facing too many balls as the lights continued to fade. However, he added that the frustration comes when the opponent team is on the receiving end, but he enjoyed the moment.
“No one wants to go out there and face one over. I think most teams do it, but if you’re on the receiving end of it, you’re well in your rights to have a go at them. But I was loving it. I was sat at the other end, I could chirp away and say whatever I wanted. When Creeps (Crawley) got hit on the hand, it was almost perfect. They knew it. As soon as you get hit on the hand, call the physio out, take as long as you want, and we made it to the next day. So, it was perfect.”
The tactic to call out physio for treatment was not the only incident that led to Shubman Gill being involved in an unnecessary altercation with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. The events before this moment had already agitated the Indian team, even though the batting side had done nothing wrong or out of bounds.
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After facing two balls, Crawley deliberately took his time to get ready for the third ball, which riled up Jasprit Bumrah, and he let it be known. At this moment, Gill said those words to Crawley from slips, but things didn’t stop just here, and even exacerbated soon.
On the fifth delivery, he was hit on his gloves and immediately called out the physio for treatment, which boiled the tension to the maximum, and Shubman came near Crawley to ask him to return to the pavilion if the injury was too severe. Fingers were pointed at each other, and even Duckett said a few words before the play eventually resumed.
Almost all Indian players sarcastically clapped and made loud cheers to put England batters under pressure, but Crawley did well not to lose his wicket. His time-wasting tactic worked out, as England faced only one over to close the day in a fading light.
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