Manchester, July 22 (IANS) India skipper Shubman Gill cleared the air on the incident between him and England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, claiming their tactics to ensure only one over was bowled at the end of Day 3, was not in the spirit of the game.

After India matched England’s first-innings total of 387, they hoped to sneak in two quick overs in the final six minutes of the day. But those plans were thwarted as Zak Crawley took his time by pulling out of two deliveries during Jasprit Bumrah’s run-up and calling the physio for a hand injury, leading to a fiery confrontation between Gill and the two openers.

“Let me clear the air. We had seven minutes of play left, the English batters were 90 seconds late to bat. Not 10,20 but 90. Yes, we would have also liked to bat less in the same situation but there is a manner to do it. I feel what happened was not in the spirit of the game.

“ It’s not something that I am proud of, we had no intention of doing that but there was a build-up to it,” said Gill in the pre-game conference.

The young Indian skipper also confirmed his deputy, Rishabh Pant will be keeping the wickets in the 4th Test, after a injury injury saw Dhruv Jurel replace the left-handed batter in the field at Lords.

With India now trailing 1-2, many are wondering whether Karun Nair’s fairytale has come to an end. In what has been his first series since 2017, the right-hand batter has only amassed 131 runs across six innings with a high score of 40. With both Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran itching to go, Gill confirmed he is hopeful that Nair will turn around his form and help the team.

“We have had conversations, we think Karun is batting well. He did not play at his number in the first game, It is difficult to make a comeback in a series like this. It is about getting that click, you score a 50 and then can go on to make a big score. We are hopeful he will turn it around,” he added.

–IANS

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