It is cricket captain Tim Southee’s critically bold statement. Furthermore, he goes on to claim, India has no legs to stand on in decrying England’s approach in their current Test series. The comments come on the heels of an exciting, day three round of play. See how England’s Zak Crawley employed negative tactics to slow down play, in particular to Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
Crawley’s frequent calls for a physio during the County Championship match — after being struck on the finger. To that end, his actions clearly frustrated the Indian players. The first delivery of Bumrah’s over was delayed by nearly two minutes, finally taking place at 18:25. The reaction to the incident created high anxiety on the field. When Shubman Gill made an X sign at Crawley, the Englishman waved a finger back with defiance.
Fellow England batter Ben Duckett stepped in during this exchange, illustrating the added intensity on the field. Just when things couldn’t get any more heated, as tempers flared, Bumrah’s fifth delivery hit Crawley on his bottom glove which added fuel to the fire. The entire atmosphere in the large stadium was electric with growing anticipation and drama. England fans particularly got behind Crawley’s appeal for urgent support and Indian fans visibly showed their frustration through jeers.
According to former England captain Sir Alastair Cook, it was a wonderful way to spend the day. He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the series “required” that sort of drama to remain interesting. India’s KL Rahul was understandably upset at the lost opportunity to get two overs in before stumps. He stressed their readiness to capitalize on that eventuality.
“Obviously we wanted to bowl two overs,” – KL Rahul
Here, Rahul shone light on the match-defining periods. As he himself noted, once you had just six minutes remaining, it was obvious how simple it could be for any team to aim for those additional overs.
“There were six minutes left. Obviously, two overs is a no-brainer that any team will bowl two overs with six minutes to go,” – KL Rahul
He said that they were keen to get a late wicket before day’s close. They didn’t want to go off with nothing. This would have changed the momentum completely to their side.
“We were hoping we could get a wicket there, and a wicket at the end of the day’s play would have been perfect for us,” – KL Rahul
One good thing to come from the whole episode is this brilliant clapback from Southee to India’s hypocrisy in complaining about time-wasting.
“Not sure what they were complaining about when Shubman was lying down getting a massage in the middle of the day yesterday,” – Tim Southee
Former England captain Michael Vaughan, hardly a Crawley devotee, thought his actions were a masterstroke in delaying tactics.
“It’s as good a piece of time-wasting I’ve ever seen,” – Michael Vaughan
England ended the day with a slight lead India by 2 runs. By the end of the third day’s play, it was 2-0.
Shubman Gill fought through a hamstring strain, and KL Rahul left the field for a few moments earlier in the game. A spectacular Rahul century brought India level with England’s first-innings total of 387. That tight battle goes on, as both sides try to assert their superiority in this enthralling Test series.
Leave a Reply