Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra believes Indian captain Shubman Gill did the right thing when he initiated an altercation with England opener Zak Crawley late on day three of the Lord’s Test.
With six minutes to play, India had a chance to bowl two overs but Crawley moved away from the stumps when Jasprit Bumrah was about to start his run-up. Crawley then called the team’s physio when he was hit on the bottom hand by India’s gun-fast bowler.
Shubman Gill wasn’t impressed with England’s time-wasting tactics and he was involved in a heated argument with Crawley and Ben Duckett.
Chopra also highlighted that teams, including India, adopt time-wasting tactics towards the fag end of the day’s play, and there is nothing wrong with it.
“That altercation, I was reading somewhere that he shouldn’t have done that, that England got motivated because of that, and that Gill was trying to copy someone, and everyone should be their own self. I would say there was nothing wrong in it, to begin with. As a captain, sometimes you feel it’s your duty,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“Once you have batted, you want to encourage your bowlers. If Zak Crawley was taking a lot of time, it’s all gamesmanship. We have also done it, and if Crawley was taking time and didn’t want the second over to be bowled, which is absolutely fine, the other side of that is you go and give it to him. He should get to know that what he was doing was wrong,” he added.
On the other hand, Chopra said Gill was following the ball in the first Test and said he looked better in the second Test, when he aggregated 430 runs in the game.
“In the first match, he looked like a captain who was following the ball a little. He came into his own as a batter in the second match. Not that he didn’t score runs in the first match, but he scored 250-plus and 150-plus in the second, 430 runs in just one match. He wrote an excellent story for himself at Edgbaston,” he said in the same video.
The renowned commentator said Gill has looked better as a leader after the opening Test and he needs a bit more time to settle into the role.
“I think he is doing fine. Sometimes it takes a little time to understand and figure out what needs to be done. Sometimes you become proactive, and become reactive at other times. A lot sort of things are going to happen as it’s a new time for Gill. He is a new captain and might not do everything right,” Chopra observed.
The fourth Test match between England and India will be played at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, from July 23 onwards.
