LONDON: There was a lot of drama on the field in the dying minutes on Day 3 of the third Test between India and England here at the Lord’s Cricket Ground with Shubman Gill and Co not amused with Zak Crawley’s apparent attempts to delay the proceedings. In the end, the visitors could bowl only one of the two overs before the bails were drawn.
KL Rahul, who on Saturday scored a century to help India level England’s first innings score of 387, spoke on the issue during the post-match press conference. “I understand from an opening batter’s point of view. I know exactly what was going on and everyone knows exactly what was going on. But an opening batter will understand completely what happened in the last five minutes. Just in terms of the discipline that you need as an opener. Not necessarily to understand but just as an opener and to keep fronting up and doing it again and again,” he told journalists at the end of day’s play.
The Indian captain was all fired up and even had talks with the on field umpires. Rahul admitted it’s a bit theatrics at the end. “I have seen him fired up but obviously 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 in to bat for two overs when you have been in the field all day. We were hoping we could get a wicket there and 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 the teams probably back to zero. After three days of hard-fought cricket, it all comes down to day four and day five so we would have been fired up anyway. We will go out there and try to get ten wickets as quickly as we can and enjoy ourselves in the field,” he said,
Speaking on his form during the series, the Karnataka batter said, “Yeah, I’m happy that I’m batting at the top of the order. I’ve always enjoyed batting at the top of the order. I’ve always batted there even in my junior cricket. In all my early days, I’ve always batted at the top of the order. So that’s something that feels quite good and I’m happy being in that place. I’m happy that I’m making use of the opportunity and getting runs for the team.”
