'England openers came out 90 seconds late' - Gill on Lord's sledging

India captain Shubman Gill has questioned England's conduct at Lord's when they ran down the clock on the third evening and made sure India could bowl just one over in the seven minutes available to them. Gill said his issue was more with the openers turning up 90 seconds late and not with Zak Crawley getting medical attention when a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah brushed his glove.

India became visibly confrontational after that, which led to an equal response from England when India batted in the fourth innings. Their coach Brendon McCullum was seen at the Lord's balcony asking his players to turn the verbals higher when Washington Sundar came out to bat. Washington had spoken to the media the day before about India winning the game comfortably.

England have been saying India instigated the sledging, and that it has eventually hurt them. Gill was asked about his views a day before the Old Trafford Test. "A lot of people have been talking about it, so let me just clear the air once and for all," Gill said. "The English batsmen on that day, they had seven minutes of play left. They were 90 seconds late to come to the pitch. Not 10, not 20. Ninety seconds late.

"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."

Gill was seen on camera using some choice words at the England batters during this phase of play. He alluded to things simmering under the surface a bit, but didn't go into details. "And just leading up to that event, a lot of things that we thought should not have happened had happened," Gill said. "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."

England captain Ben Stokes felt similarly: that sledging is not something they plan or talk about, it is just something that boils over. However, he did say they were going to give back as good as they get. "I don't think it is one of those things where we will necessarily just go out and start it," Stokes said. "I don't think either team has really looked to do that, but there will always be a moment in a series where things just heat up. It is a massive series, there is pressure on both teams to go out and perform. The environment when you are out there, there is going to some moments, some heat showing [up].

"Obviously that night when Zak [Crawley] and Ben [Duckett] had to go out there and start everything off, we had the advantage of bowling last in a Test match to win and threw everything at India, not only with our skills but also with our energy in the field as well."

There were reports McCullum had told England players they had been too nice when they discussed sledging. Stokes was asked about that. "Potentially," he said. "[But] It was a real nice moment as a team when you speak about something like that and then everyone buys into it. It is not something we are going to purposely go out and start in a game of cricket, that will take our focus off what we need to do out in the middle. But by no means, we are not going to take a backward step and let any opposition try and be confrontational towards us and not try to give a bit back. I think that goes for most teams, to be honest, so it is not like we are the only team who does that."