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Former England Player Criticises Shubman Gill for Heated Exchange With Zak Crawley Over Time-Wasting During ENG vs IND 3rd Test

Sagar Paul

Last updated: July 13, 2025

3 min read

He took a dig at India's former Test captain too.

There was a heated moment towards the end of Day 3 at Lord’s during the England vs India Test match. The tension started in the final over of play when Shubman Gill appeared visibly upset with Zak Crawley on his slow approach between deliveries off Jasprit Bumrah.

After India wrapped up their first innings, they returned to the field hoping to bowl two quick overs before stumps. But England opener Zak Crawley seemed to deliberately slow things down. He took his time getting ready, walked away from the crease twice, and delayed facing Jasprit Bumrah. This didn’t sit well with the India captain. He walked up from the slip cordon and exchanged harsh words with Crawley. Ben Duckett stepped in to calm things down, but the situation only got more intense.

Then, on the fifth ball of the over, Bumrah bowled a delivery that hit Crawley near his fingers. He immediately called for medical attention. As the physio ran onto the field, the Indian players gathered around and some clapped sarcastically. Gill sprinted towards Crawley, pointed at him, and shouted an angry comment telling him to “grow some f***ing balls.” Duckett again stepped in to stop the argument, but the exchange continued for a bit. With the delay and the tension rising, the umpires ended the day’s play, deciding there wasn’t enough time left to bowl another over.

Jonathan Trott Questions On-Field Conduct of Shubman Gill

Former England batter and current Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott was not happy with how Gill behaved on the field. While speaking on JioHotstar after the day’s play, Trott said he did not like how Gill acted during the incident and felt it was unnecessary.

Trott mentioned that they did not know if England said anything while fielding that might have caused the reaction, but still felt Gill went too far. He believes that as a captain, Gill should lead by example and that his behaviour looked more like acting.

“We don’t know what went on when England were fielding, whether they were dishing it out. But I don’t like the acting from Shubman Gill. As a captain, you set the tone,” Jonathan Trott said.

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Jonathan Trott Criticises Shubman Gill’s Confrontational Style

Trott also compared Gill’s actions to a former captain. He said that pointing fingers and getting into the face of the opposition reminds him of the previous captain’s style. Trott added that while being competitive is important, sometimes a player or captain should rise above such situations. He ended by saying that the incident has added more drama to the match and set things up interestingly for the next day.

“Pointing fingers and getting very confrontational, very much like a previous captain before getting in the face of the opposition. I am all for being competitive and being tough on the field, but sometimes you have to rise above it. It sets up nicely for tomorrow’s play,” he added.

Though Trott didn’t mention which of India’s former captains, the dig was clear towards Virat Kohli, who retired from Tests about two months ago.

Coming back to the scorecard, at the end of the day, England were at two for no loss in their second innings. They have a lead of two runs after both teams finished with the same score of 367 in the first innings.

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