Debasis Sen in London
Tempers frayed in the final moments of Day 3 in the ongoing third Test between India and England at Lord’s, with the match and control of the series on the line. Indian captain Shubman Gill and England opener Zak Crawley were involved in a heated exchange after the later was seen purposefully wasting time to deny India an extra over. With the scores level after the first innings, both teams are trying to wrest the initiative.
Former India cricketer Farokh Engineer, who was at Lord’s on Saturday, ripped apart Crawley for wasting time. In an exclusive chat with RevSportz, Engineer said, “English people will call it professionalism but I would call it cheating. That was timewasting tactics. They did not want to face another over which was very obvious. He could have been discrete about it but he made it look so obvious. That wasn’t very fair. But who knows? I don’t think our batsmen would have done such a blatant thing. The headline is it’s not cricket.”
On being asked where he felt the match was headed, Engineer said, “It’s even stevens at the moment. If we had got a couple of wickets by close of play today, I would have put ourselves as firm favorites. Bumrah has still got a new ball in his hand. Akash Deep is yet to bowl. Let’s first take 3-4 wickets before lunch on Day 4, and we are very capable of doing that.”
The 87-year-old former Lancashire stalwart was livid when asked about England’s approach in the first innings after winning the toss and deciding to bat first.
“This Bazball is all bundlebaz, they can do Bazball against Bangladesh or Afghanistan and Sri Lanka,” said Engineer. “Against India, they cannot do that and I have always said that in the past. I wish they had adopted Bazball, we would have won the series by now.”
Engineer heaped praise on Gill, especially the way he is improving as a captain with every Test match in this series. According to Engineer, “Shubman is doing alright. He is a young boy. We need to give him time as a captain. He could be a little more adventurous. He seemed a bit on the conservative side. He is an intelligent boy and is quickly learning the nuances of captaincy. He is a fantastic batsman and I like him very much. He is the right choice as captain. He has senior players like KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah around him. He has got the right people around him.”
Finally, on being asked what would be India’s approach in the ongoing Test, Engineer said, “Get England out quickly as possible. If we get them out cheaply in the second innings by tomorrow evening or may be by an hour on the final day, our batters will have the time to chase it. We are definitely missing a real wicket-taking spinner like Kuldeep Yadav. We are relying on Jadeja and Washington to take wickets. All I can say at this moment is the game is very evenly poised.”
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