Responses pouring in from all around are drawing great attention to the strong argument between Indian players and England opener Zak Crawley in the final five minutes of Day 3 of the third Anderson-Tendulkar Test at Lord’s on Saturday.
The great former batsman Sunil Gavaskar started the whole narrative by hypothesizing that the lack of major English players from the Indian Premier League (IPL) may have caused the growing animosity between the two countries. On television, Gavaskar said, “There is a reason why this happened. That’s because not a lot of England players are competing in the IPL.”
The hot argument in the final over on Saturday was rife with amazing visuals, with India’s skipper Shubman Gill right in the thick of things. Irritated by Crawley’s time-wasting tactics that ensured India only won one over rather than the two they would have desired, Gill burst out of the slips, shouted insults at Crawley and Ben Duckett, pointed fingers, and gave Crawley a phoney clap.
Moreover, the English players kept their position and responded with everything they had. Gavaskar said, “That’s my thinking. From this England team, Joe Root did not play, and Ben Stokes did not play. Most of these English players don’t play in the Indian Premier League. What has happened with other teams is that a lot of their players are in the IPL. They have mixed with the Indian players, travelled with them.”
“They shared a changing room. You see the players of other countries competing in the T20 league, and when they turn up against India in international cricket, there is no fight among the cricketers of both teams,” he added. He further said that Zack Crawley has all the rights to call the physio, as pain is something which only an individual experiences and Indian batters should also consider using these tactics.
