“They were 90 seconds late to come to the pitch”: Shubman Gill opens up on confrontation with England at Lord’s

Indian captain Shubman Gill has opened up about a tense confrontation with the England team during the third Test at Lord’s. The incident, which occurred at the end of Day 3, made headlines after Shubman Gill got into a heated altercation with England batter Zak Crawley. The controversy erupted with England employing time-wasting tactics to ensure they faced only one over in the final seven minutes of play for the day. According to Gill, England openers turned up 90 seconds late in getting to the crease for the start of England's second innings. 

"A lot of people have been talking about it, so let me just clear the air once and for all. 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. Ninety seconds late,” Gill said during the press conference.

“Yes, most of the teams, they use this [tactic]. Even if we were in a position, we would've also liked to play lesser overs, but there's a manner to do it. And we felt, yes, if you get hit on your body, the physios are allowed to come on 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."

One moment in the innings caught attention when Zac Crawley called for the physio after being hit on the finger, prompting Gill to exchange a few words with the England batter. 

"And just leading up to that event, a lot of things that we thought should not have happened had happened. And I wouldn't say it was something that I'm very proud of, 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 you're playing a game, you're playing to win, and there are a lot of emotions involved, and when you see there are things happening that should not happen, sometimes the emotions come out of nowhere."

The fourth Test will begin on Wednesday in Manchester as India gear up to level the series 2-2. India lost the third Test by 22 runs to go 1-2 down.