“That was a little out of character” - Ricky Ponting on Shubman Gill’s on-field confrontation with Zak Crawley

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has opened up on Shubman Gill losing his cool at the English opener Zak Crawley on the third day of the Lord’s Test, which England went on to win narrowly by 22 runs to lead the series by 2-1.

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Ponting, speaking on The ICC Review, stated that Gill’s aggressive on-field confrontation against Crawley looked a little out of his character. However, he added that it was the captain who was standing up for his team.

“That was a little out of character from what I’ve known from Shubman in the past. I am sure everyone that was there watching it and I know you would know him quite well, that’s not what he’s generally like,” Ponting told ‘The ICC Review’.

“That’s the captain standing up for his team, that’s a captain really wanting to show that it’s his team now and this is the way that we’re going to play the game, and also, I guess, wanting to give a little bit back,” he added.

Furthermore, Ponting compared Gill’s on-field moment to Virat Kohli’s, adding that he loved the way the current Indian Test captain Gill stood up for what he thought was right in the Lord’s Test last week.

“I think that’s him starting to put his stamp on his team. And a lot like Virat (Kohli) did, similar ways like that. Rohit (Sharma) probably was never as outwardly aggressive, I guess, especially to opposition players. I know he (Rohit) would quite often get aggressive with his teammates and try to bring the best out of them that way. But I love watching Shubman stand up for what he thought was right in the game last week,” he noted.

Ahead of the start of the Manchester Test, Indian skipper Gill, who attended the pre-match press conference, asserted that English openers were 90 seconds late to come to the crease, which he felt was against the spirit of the game.

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“Yes, a lot of people have been talking about it, so let me just clear the air, for once and for all, the English batsmen on that day, they had seven minutes of play left, they were 90 seconds late to come to the crease, not 10, not 20, 90 seconds late,” Gill said.

“Yes, most of the teams they use this (delaying tactic), even if we were in a position, we would have also liked to play lesser overs, but there is a manner to do it, and we felt, yes if you get hit on your body, the physios are allowed to come on, and that is something that is fair. But to be able to come 90 seconds late on the crease, is not something that I would think, comes in the way of spirit of the game,” he added.

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