India star fires fierce accusation at England players to "clear the air once and for all"

Shubman Gill has accused England openers of breaching the spirit of cricket by dragging their feet.

The Indian captain claimed Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were 90 seconds late to the crease at the start of their second innings at Lord’s - which lit the blue touchpaper for a feisty conclusion to England’s tense 22-run win.

When Crawley backed away, and then called for treatment after being struck on the bottom hand by a lifting delivery from Jasprit Bumrah, finger-wagging Gill saw led a posse of Indian players remonstrating with him for blatant timewasting to run down the clock.

Ahead of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Gill explained: “A lot of people have been asking me about it, so let me clear the air once and for all. The English batsmen on that day had seven minutes’ play left, but they were 90 seconds late coming to the crease - not 10, not 20, but 90 seconds late.

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“Yes, most teams use this (ploy), but there’s a manner to do it. If you get hit on the body, the physios are allowed to come on and that is fair. But to be able to come 90 seconds late to the crease is not something that comes in the spirit of the game.

“Leading up to that event, a lot of things happened that we thought should not have happened. It’s not something I’m very proud of but there was a build-up - it didn’t just come out of nowhere.

“We had no intention of doing that whatsoever but you’re playing to win and there are a lot of emotions. Sometimes when you see things happening that should not happen, emotions come out of nowhere.”

England were unimpressed by India’s hostility towards Crawley and Duckett - and white-ball captain Harry Brook admitted they resolved to “get stuck in” and reciprocate the aggression. India tuned up for their date at Old Trafford by paying a visit to Manchester United's Carrington training ground.

It is not known whether United boss Ruben Amorim recommended batting or bowling first if Gill wins the toss for the first time in the series.