Shubman Gill reveals real story of sledging England during ENG vs IND 3rd Test at Lord's

Indian captain, Shubman Gill, on the eve of the fourth Test between England and India at Old Trafford in Manchester, cleared the air on the sledging saga to the home openers, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, on the evening session of the third day’s play. He reflected that the batters were 90 seconds late in coming into the middle, which ruled out the chance of an extra possible over.

Gill, who failed on both innings of the London Test after two incredible outings with centuries and a double century at Leeds and Edgbaston, was criticized by several former players for showing heat against the home openers. Many felt that the behavior put pressure on Gill’s batting performances.

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‘So let me just clear the air for once and for all. The English batsmen on that day 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 use this. Even if we were in a position, we would have also liked to play fewer overs. But there's a manner to do it.’ Gill addressed in the pre-match press conference.

Shubman Gill clears the air on sledging saga during ENG vs IND 3rd Test at Lord’s

The Punjab-born reckoned that they had no issues with the physios and doctors rushing to check the players, but wasting 90 seconds in a Test match at a crucial stage would not be out under the spirit of the game.  

‘And we felt, yes, if you get hit on your body, the physios are allowed to come on. And 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. And just leading up to that event, a lot of things that we thought should not have happened had happened. And it's not. I wouldn't say it was something that I'm very proud of.’ Gill explained.  

‘But there was a lead-up and build-up to that. It didn't just come out of nowhere. And we had no intention of doing that whatsoever. But it just, you're playing a game, you're playing to win. And there are a lot of emotions involved. And when you see things are happening that should not happen, sometimes the emotions come out of nowhere.’ Shubman Gill, who is the leading run-getter of the series with 607 runs, concluded the press conference.