Indian team skipper Shubman Gill reacted explosively and cleared the air on the incident that happened with Zak Crawley during the Lord's Test. On Day 3 of the third Test, minutes before stumps, Shubman Gill said some expletives after Crawley was constantly backing away while Jasprit Bumrah was bowling. This was to ensure that Bumrah doesn't strike by the end of the day.
Following this, Shubman Gill explained the whole episode in a pre-match press conference and mentioned that England batter Zak Crawley was 90 seconds late and kept wasting time. Gill questioned England's 'spirit of the game' highlighting that this is not how things were supposed to unfold.
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"Let me just clear the air for once and for all. The English batsmen on that day, they had 7 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. 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," Gill said on Tuesday.
"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 spirit of the game."
Shubman Gill also gave one more major update and mentioned Akashdeep's unavailability as he is already struggling with a groin injury. Gill even highlighted that the choice now lies between Anshul Kamboj and Prasidh Krishna, dropping a hint that a new debut might be on the cards.
"Akash Deep is unavailable, so is Arshdeep, but we have good players in the team to pick twenty wickets. It is not ideal to have different bowlers, but I was prepared," he said.
"He is very close to making his debut. We will see between Prasidh and Anshul tomorrow," Gill added
"Nine-ten players are mostly same for every condition. That one or two players change depending on conditions. We have been discussing about starting and closing sessions well. Sometimes it's not in your control," he explained.
The fourth Test is extremely crucial for India and a must-win match if they want to stay alive in the series as England are already leading by 2-1.