Shubman Gill shown no mercy, gets booed by Manchester crowd; Stokes exacts perfect revenge with in-your-face celebration

Hindustan Times

5 days ago

The Manchester crowd showed no mercy to India captain Shubman Gill on Wednesday as he walked out to bat on the first afternoon of the fourth Test. The loud boos were a direct response to Gill's fiery outburst in the pre-match press conference, which followed his verbal clash with Zak Crawley during the third Test at Lord's. England's Ben Stokes appeals successfully for the lbw wicket of India's Shubman Gill (Action Images via Reuters)
India made a steady start at Old Trafford after being put in to bat, with the openers putting up a 94-run stand. But England hit back hard in the second session of Day 1, dismissing both openers — KL Rahul edged Chris Woakes to Crawley at slip, and Liam Dawson ended Jaiswal's stay.
As Gill emerged from the dressing room, jeers rang around the ground. The crowd, still stirred by his bold comments on England players, gave him a hostile welcome. But the India skipper responded in style — with a pair of crisp, well-timed shots to get off the mark, momentarily silencing the crowd.
It also showed how much Gill has grown in handling on-field mind games — something that had rattled him earlier in the series. He was famously thrown off by Harry Brook's banter in Birmingham, which cost him a shot at a historic triple century, and later by Ben Duckett at Lord's, who confronted him a day after the Crawley spat.
However, Gill's stay was short-lived. Ben Stokes struck the perfect blow — a delivery that angled in and thudded into Gill's pad after he chose to leave it. The India No. 3 reviewed it, only to see the ball smashing into the top of the off stump. Stokes followed it up with an animated, in-your-face celebration — a fiery response that capped England's revenge.
What had Gill said in the pre-match presser?
Ahead of the fourth Test, Gill accused England players of violating 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.'