England accused of breaking golden cricket rule as India star 'clears the air'

Shubman Gill has launched a scathing attack on England's openers, accusing them them of breaching the spirit of cricket by deliberately wasting time.

The Indian skipper alleged that Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett arrived at the crease 90 seconds behind schedule at the start of England's second innings at Lord's - sparking the explosive scenes that overshadowed the hosts' nail-biting 22-run victory.

When Crawley stepped away and then requested medical attention after copping a blow to his bottom hand from Jasprit Bumrah's rising delivery, a frustrated Gill led a group of Indian stars remonstrating with him, accusing the batsman of time-wasting tactics.

Speaking ahead of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Gill declared: "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.

"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's players were notably riled by the hostility towards Crawley and Duckett, with white-ball captain Harry Brook conceding they decided to "get stuck in" and match India's intensity.

Meanwhile, India geared up for their upcoming match at Old Trafford with a trip to Manchester United's Carrington training ground.