Sunday 13 / July / 2025
London: India's seasoned opener KL Rahul spilt the beans about the dramatic scenes that unfolded in the final moments of Day 3 of the third Test against England at the 'Home of Cricket', Lord's.
Temperaments flared, tension simmered, and emotions ran high in the final over of a gripping day of Test cricket. After India packed their bags on 387, the exact total as England, openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were assigned the task of seeing off the testing eight to ten minutes of the day.
Before the third delivery of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah's first over, Crawley moved out of the way late, indicating that there was movement behind the bowler. Despite Crawley's suggestion, Bumrah and India captain Shubman Gill appeared to be unconvinced. Gill expressed his discontent and yelled at Crawley from the slip cordon.
On the fifth delivery, Crawley sustained a blow on the glove. He quickly removed the glove and asked the physio to have a look at it, which caused pandemonium on the field. The Indian players swarmed the English openers as Gill and Crawley engaged in a heated verbal exchange while pointing fingers at each other.
Rahul, who was present at the scene and witnessed the entire situation unfold, feels it is a part of the game. He went on to state that, as an opening batter, he understands what happened in the last five minutes on the field.
"What happened at the end is, I mean, it's just part of the game now. I mean, this is every, I understand from an opening batter's point of view. I have, I can, I know exactly what is going on, and everyone knows exactly what is going on. But an opening batter will understand completely what happened in the last five minutes," Rahul told reporters at the end of the day's play.
For many, it was the first time seeing Gill riled up, animatedly expressing his opinion. However, for Rahul, it wasn't the first instance, and he said, "Yes, I have seen him fired up. We wanted to bowl two 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."
"It's a bit of theatrics at the end. We were all pumped up either way because we know how difficult it is for a batter to come into bat for two overs when you've been in the field all day. We were hoping we could get a wicket there," he added.
According to Rahul, a wicket in the closing moments of the day would have been "perfect". After three days of pulsating clash, even if they returned wicketless, Indian players would have remained fired up while trying to pursue a result.
"A wicket at the end of the day's play would have been perfect for us. Tomorrow, even without that, I think we would have been fired up anyway because that's where the game stands. We have two days from now on with both teams probably back to zero," he said.
"After three days of hard-fought cricket, it all comes down to day four and day five. We would have been fired up anyway. We will go out there and try and get ten wickets as quickly as we can and enjoy ourselves in the field," he added.
Despite the heated exchange, England remained unscathed with 2/0, and will try to build on it as the game heads towards the last six sessions. (
