Ravi Shastri hits back at England over ‘hypocrisy’ jibe at Shubman Gill: ‘We call that tamasha’

Ravi Shastri's comment came moments before the Day 4 proceedings kicked off in London, with England set to resume their second innings on 2/0

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, on Sunday, fired back at England bowling coach Tim Southee for accusing India captain Shubman Gill of double standards as tempers frayed in the evening light on Day 3 at the Lord's in the ongoing third Test match of the series. Shastri's comment came moments before the Day 4 proceedings kicked off in London, with England set to resume their second innings on 2/0 after India nullified their first innings total of 387 runs.

Ravi Shastri hit back at England's take on Shubman-Zak Crawley incident

Gill was drawn into a fiery moment in the final over of the play on Saturday after England opener Zak Crawley pulled away twice with Jasprit Bumrah ready to bowl. The camera caught the 25-year-old hurling expletives at Crawley in the first instance before charging at the batter in the second instance, which saw the two getting involved in a heated exchange.

In the second instance, on the fourth ball of the only over in England's second innings on Day 3, Crawley hurt his fingers while defending the length ball from Bumrah. He immediately removed his gloves and called for the physio, but the Indian players showed no sympathy and accused him of wasting time.

Not impressed with Gill's act, Southee lashed out at the Indian captain for his hypocrisy, pointing out that he himself had received treatment on Day 2 of the match.

"It's always exciting to see both sides animated towards the end," Southee said at the end of the day's play. "I'm not sure what they were complaining about when Shubman Gill was lying down getting a massage in the middle of the day yesterday. It's obviously part of the game when you're near the end of the day. It's an exciting way to finish the day."

Speaking to Sky Cricket at the start of Day 4 at the Lord's, Shastri hit back at the England camp for their jibe at Gill, saying that he would have done the same thing had he been in his shoes.

“If I were wearing the Indian hat, I would have done all that. We call that tamasha. All that is allowed and you want all that. You can't just have 'Good morning...good evening' and go home. A little bit of argy-bargy is okay as long as you don't cross the line,” he said.

Talking about the match, KL Rahul made 100 and Ravindra Jadeja a third successive fifty as India exactly equalled England's first-innings total of 387. India were in complete control when Rahul and Pant (74) shared a fourth-wicket stand of 141. But both departed on either side of Lunch as the rest of the line-up crumbled in no time.

England batted just one over in their second innings on Day 3, scoring two for no loss.