India captain Gill accuses England of violating ‘spirit of the game’ ahead of 4th cricket test

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Tensions are rising ahead of the fourth test between England and India at Old Trafford.

India captain Shubman Gill said Tuesday that England had acted against the “spirit of the game” by delaying play in last week’s heated third test at Lord’s.

Gill was not happy about England batsmen Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett being late to the crease on the third day of the test, which the host won by 22 runs to take a 2-1 series lead.

A flashpoint came when England’s openers had to bat out the final seven minutes, but India was only able to get through one over.

“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 had seven minutes of play left, they were 90 seconds late to come to the crease. Not 10, not 20 — 90 seconds late.”

Gill went on to say England’s actions were “not something that comes in the spirit of the game.”

There were a number of clashes between players over the next two days of the test.

England can secure a series victory with a win in the fourth test, which starts Wednesday.

England captain Ben Stokes said his team would not look to antagonize India but would not back down, either.

“It’s not something we’re going to go out and purposefully look to start (an argument) because that will take our focus off what we need to do out in the middle,” he said. “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.

“That goes for most teams, so it is not like we are the only team who does that.”

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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