Three days of cricket that often failed to match the red-hot temperatures it has been played in ended on Saturday with six minutes of rancour, Shubman Gill exhorting Zak Crawley to “grow some fucking balls”, and both sides accusing the other of time-wasting. The sudden outbreak of tension came in the day’s extraordinary conclusion, in which England’s openers used every tactic in their armoury to prevent India squeezing a second over into their brief spell in the field before stumps.
India’s first innings ended – for 387, precisely the same score England got in theirs – 14 minutes before the day was due to conclude, and when Crawley and Ben Duckett emerged to start their second knock there were only six minutes remaining. The action that followed was punctuated by discussions between the batters, while Crawley on one occasion pulled away as Jasprit Bumrah neared the end of his run-up after spotting movement behind the bowler’s arm, and on another shook his hand in apparent agony and called for the physio after the ball bounced into his glove. “He’ll be assessed overnight and hopefully he’ll be all right to carry on tomorrow,” deadpanned Tim Southee, England’s coaching consultant.
