Shubman Gill drags England down from moral high horse in two minutes: ‘Let me clear it once and for all…’

Shubman Gill clarified India's stance, rejecting claims of confrontational tactics. He highlighted England's late arrival to the crease at Lord's.

It took Shubman Gill just two minutes to drag England down from the moral high horse they have clambered on since the third evening of the Lord’s Test. The narrative from an obliging English media has revolved around how India’s ploy to confront a deliberately tardy Zak Crawley towards the closing stages of Saturday’s play in the third Test backfired spectacularly on them. While it can’t be denied that that faceoff seemed to adversely impact Gill, the chief protagonist, when he came out to bat in the last half-hour the following day, to ascribe India’s 22-run loss to their ‘confrontational’ approach is taking things too far, even by English standards.

Manchester: India's captain Shubman Gill during a practice session ahead of the fourth test cricket against England (PTI)

England had between six and seven minutes of batting at the start of their second innings on day three, enough time for two overs even if the first took five minutes. But Crawley and Ben Duckett, clear that they would only bat one over, walked in fashionably late, 90 seconds beyond the 10 changeover minutes even as umpires Reiffel, who had a shocking Test, and Saikat chose to remain mute spectators. The role of the officials in this episode has hardly been debated; it can’t be denied that they didn’t deem it fit to step in despite England’s obvious delaying tactics, some of it understandable, much of it out of line.

With Jasprit Bumrah chomping at the bit and India’s close-in cordon fired up at the prospect of 12 no-win deliveries at Crawley and Duckett, the former took his time, pulling out as Bumrah steamed in to bowl the second ball, then calling for the physio after being struck on the glove off the fifth ball. That’s when Gill lost his shirt, exhorting the out-of-form Crawley to grow some ‘balls’, with an expletive thrown in. England claim that lifted them as a team – hello, shouldn’t Test cricket be reason enough to lift themselves? – and contributed to the storytelling by tom-toming about India losing because of that incident.

On Tuesday, as Gill wound down a lengthy press conference that he handled with characteristic poise – his outburst at Lord’s, it must be assumed for now, was a one-off – he was asked by an English journalist if he regretted employing ‘confrontational tactics’. As if he had been waiting for it, Gill sent the question out of the park, like he would a juicy full toss. “Let me just clear the air once and for all,” India’s captain replied, in complete command of the situation. “The English batsmen on that day, they had seven 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 (delaying tactics). Even if we were in that position, we would have also liked to play lesser overs,” he conceded. “But there is a manner to do it. If you get hit on your body, the physios are allowed to come on. That is fair. But to come 90 seconds late to the crease is not something that I would think comes in the spirit of the game. Just leading up to that event, a lot of things that we thought should not have happened, it had happened.

“I wouldn't say it (the verbals) was something I am very proud of. But there was a lead-up and build-up to that. It didn't just come out of nowhere. We had no intention of doing that whatsoever. But you are playing a game, you are playing to win and there are a lot of emotions involved. When you see there are things happening that should not happen, sometimes the emotions come out of nowhere.”

Gill has made it amply clear that, contrary to popular perception in naughty quarters in this country, the only fight India are interested in is the one between the bat and the ball. By calmly and lucidly explaining his and his team’s stance, he has exploded the balloon of being victimised that England have conveniently chosen to wrap themselves in. It is inevitable that, in the heat of battle, emotions will surface, but most of that must be organic and not orchestrated, like England head coach Brendon McCullum exhorting his players from the balcony to start chirping when Washington Sundar came out to bat on day five. Apparently, England were incensed when, the previous evening with India on 58 for four chasing 193, Washington said his team would ‘definitely’ win, perhaps by lunch. Poor Washington – shouldn’t he have known better? Shouldn’t he have said England would have won, by the proverbial country mile?

England threw down the gamesmanship gauntlet, Gill’s picked it up and hurled it right back at them. What fun. And what fun in store.