Gill’s ‘Spirit of cricket’ jab, exciting squad additions: 4th India-UK Test at Manchester has makings of another humdinger

MANCHESTER(UK): The fourth Test between England and India, perhaps the most important in the context of the series, will kickstart at Manchester’s Old Trafford on Wednesday.

With Team India lagging behind by 1-2 in the five-match series, a victory would help them level the series. If England win, they will win the series, denying Team India a shot at glory in England, which they have been seeking since 2007, when they last won a series under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy.

After a narrow loss at Lord’s by 22 runs, India will have to rewrite history books all over again to level the series. Out of nine tests played at Old Trafford, India has lost four, and five have ended in a draw. In their previous Test at the venue, back in 2014, India lost by an innings and 54 runs, failing to outscore England’s first-innings total of 367 across both their innings, managing just 152 and 161 runs.

Ahead of the match during the pre-match presser, the tensions between both teams showed no signs of slowing down as Indian skipper Shubman Gill fired jabs at openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett for being “90 minutes late” to the crease during the final moments of day three and played the ‘spirit of the game’ card against the Englishmen themselves, known for bringing in the phrase during various instances of the games not going their way.

“So let me just clear the air for once and for all. 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. Yes, most of the teams use this. Even if we were in a position, we would have also liked to play fewer overs. But there is a manner to do it,” said Gill during the presser.

“We felt, yes, if you get hit on your body (one of Jasprit Bumrah’s deliveries hit Crawley’s hands), the physios are allowed to come on. And 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 spirit of the game,” he added.

“I would not say it was something that I am very proud of. But there was a lead-up and build-up to that. It did not just come out of nowhere. And we had no intention of doing that whatsoever. But it just, you are playing a game, you are playing to win. And there are a lot of emotions involved. And when you see there are things happening that should not happen, sometimes the emotions come out of nowhere,” he concluded.

In a positive update, Gill said that the superstar wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be behind the stumps after having faced a finger injury at Lord’s, which saw Dhruv Jurel take the keeping gloves while Pant batted, scoring 74 and nine.

Answering a query if Pant will be wicket-keeping, Gill said, “Yes”.

Gill also spoke about the Old Trafford Cricket Ground pitch and said there is not much chance for the wicket to dry.

“Honestly, when I went to see the wicket, the wicket did not look that damp. But obviously, now having to look at the weather, I don’t think there is much chance for the wicket to dry that much throughout. So I think there would be a little bit more for the bowlers,” Gill said.

“And generally on this venue, it is a little bit quicker than the other venues we have seen. There’s a bit more pace and bounce. So we’ll have to see how the test match pans out,” he added.

Despite the presence of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, Team India will have to field another bowling combination in the absence of an injured Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep.

Speaking of Haryana seamer Anshul Kamboj, who impressed during India’s A’s tour to England before the series with four wickets and a half-century with the bat, Gill said that the team has seen enough of him and the communication with him has been kept simple. He also hinted that the 24-year-old, newly drafted in the team, is “close to making his debut”.

“You know, why has he been brought in. But it is mainly the belief that we have within our squad that any player who comes into the team can win matches for us. And secondly, yes, Anshul, he is very close to making his debut. We are going to see tomorrow, between him and Prasidh, who is going to make it to the playing XI,” he added.

Kamboj is known for his ability to stick to traditional lengths and hit the deck hard, generating movement. He was part of the India A squad before for the two unofficial Tests against England Lions and impressed in the second, taking four wickets, including two in a single over. Not just with the ball, Kamboj exuded grit with the bat, stitching an unbeaten 149-run stand with Tanush Kotian in the same contest and scoring a half-century himself. In the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season, he scalped 34 wickets in six matches and finished as the leading wicket-taker in the 2024-25 Duleep Trophy. He created history by becoming only the third Indian to take all ten wickets in an innings against Kerala. In First-Class cricket, Kamboj boasts 79 wickets in 24 matches at an average of 22.88 while maintaining a strike rate of 44.2 and an economy of 3.10.

Now, moving to the other side, England skipper Ben Stokes has made one exciting addition to his side, adding Liam Dawson, an experienced spin bowling all-rounder, in place of an injured Shoaib Bashir.

During the press conference, Stokes highlighted the 35-year-old’s “experience and competitiveness” and expressed excitement at his return to the playing eleven.

“He has been performing really well for Hampshire for a while now. I think he is getting recalled into the white ball team as well. He showed that he can just come back in and get to work straight away. I think someone, when you have as much experience as Dawson has, it makes coming back in, not easier, but it does make it easier, if that makes any sense at all.”

“Because he has got all that experience to fall back on. Obviously, I am sure there will be a bit of nerves for Dawson coming back in and playing his first game in eight years, as you said. But yes, he is a very good cricketer, and I am excited for him this week,” he added.

He has performed consistently for Hampshire for several years, scoring 10,731 runs in 212 first-class matches at an average of 35.29, with 18 centuries and 56 fifties, and taking 371 wickets at an average of 31.54. In the most recent County Championship, Dawson made 536 runs in nine matches and 14 innings at an average of 44.36, with a century and two half-centuries. He also took 21 wickets at an average of 40.04, with best figures of 5/158.

With his team getting their World Test Championship (WTC) points docked for slow-over-rate, Stokes also made an interesting suggestion to change the over-rate rules as per different continents, depending on the prevalence of spin or pace, as spinners take less time and energy, while there is a lot of rest, tactical side of things and workload managing involved for pacers who are “breaking their backs”,

“There are periods in the game where you do try to slow everything down, more tactically, if anything like that. Overrating is not something I worry about, but that doesn’t mean I purposely slow things down. I do understand the frustration around it, but I honestly think there needs to be a real hard look at how it is structured,” said Stokes.

“You cannot have the same rules in Asia where spin is bowling 70 per cent of the overs to have the same laws in New Zealand, Australia, England, where it is going to be 70-80 per cent of seam bowlers. Because the spinners take less time than the seamers to get done with their overs, common sense would think that you should look at maybe changing how the overs are timed in different continents,” he added.

Stokes, while already crowned ‘Player of the Match’ for an all-round show at Lord’s, would be aiming for big runs.

In three matches during the ongoing home series, Stokes has scored 163 runs in six innings at an average of 27.16, with a best score of 44. While a big score continues to elude him, he is England’s highest-wicket-taking bowler, with 11 scalps at an average of 29.45 and best bowling figures of 4/66.

With the series’ future to be decided at Old Trafford, this is another occasion that calls for a Stokes’ special. He has a fine record at the venue, scoring 579 runs in eight Tests and 12 innings at an average of 52.63, with two centuries and three fifties. His best score is 176. With the ball, he has 11 wickets at an average of 27.54, with best figures of 27.54.

The climb towards the top of Test run charts gets easier for Joe Root, who is just 120 runs away from becoming the second-highest run-getter in the format and sitting next to Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar (15,921 runs).

In three Tests so far, Root has scored 253 runs at an average of 50.60, with a century and a fifty each. He is the eighth-highest run-getter so far, a little disappointing given his gigantic standards this decade. Root has a fantastic record in Manchester, being the all-time highest run-getter with 978 runs in 11 Tests and 19 innings at an average of 65.20, with a century and seven fifties. His best score is 254.

The stylish batter is currently the fifth-highest run-getter of all time in Tests, with 13,259 runs in 156 Tests and 285 innings at an average of 50.80, with 37 centuries and 66 fifties and a best score of 262. Scoring just 30 more runs will push him to fourth spot, outdoing Indian great Rahul Dravid (13,288 runs in 164 Tests), while 120 more runs will help him topple South Africa’s Jacques Kallis (13,289 runs in 166 Tests) and Australia’s Ponting (13,378 runs in 168 matches) to become the second-highest Test run-getter of all time.

Indian skipper Shubman is also eyeing some records and milestones, 107 runs away from 6,000 international runs.

Despite a brief lull at Lord’s, Gill is still the highest run-getter in the series, with 607 runs in six innings at an average of 101.16 and an audacious strike rate of over 71, with three centuries to his name. His closest competitors, the wicketkeeping-batters Rishabh Pant (425 runs) and Jamie Smith (415 runs) are yet to touch even the 500-run mark in the series.

So far in his international career, Gill has scored 5,853 runs at an average of 46.45, with 17 centuries and 25 fifties to his name, with the best score of 269 in 141 innings. 107 more runs will take him to the 6,000-run mark.

In 35 Tests so far, he has shown both promise and inconsistency, scoring 2,500 runs at an average of 41.66, with eight centuries and seven fifties in 65 innings, including a best score of 269.

Pacer Chris Woakes, who received backing from his skipper despite taking just seven wickets so far at an average of 56.42, will be aiming to continue his fine record at Old Trafford and become the eighth English player to reach the 400-wicket mark in international cricket, just eight scalps shy of the milestone. At Old Trafford, having taken 35 scalps in just seven Tests at an average of 17.37, strike rate of 35.8, with best figures of 5/50. He has two five-wicket hauls at the venue.

England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer

India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Anshul Kamboj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel. (ANI)