On Saturday, March 9, in Dharamsala, during the last Test against England, a disagreement broke out. Indian players Shubman Gill and Sarfaraz Khan were involved. The argument was with England’s Jonny Bairstow. It happened on Day 3.
The exchange, captured on stump mic, began with Jonny Bairstow questioning Gill about his interaction with James Anderson on Day 2 and culminated with Sarfaraz making a disparaging remark about the England batter’s performance in the series.
Day 3 of the Test match showed India’s power once again. By lunch, England was down to 103/ 5 in their second innings. Jonny Bairstow, who was in his milestone 100th Test, got out at 39 from 31 balls by Kuldeep Yadav. He hit three fours and three sixes in his bold innings.
During his innings, Jonny Bairstow had comments with some of the Indian fielders. The conversation proceeded as follows.
Bairstow: What did you say to Jimmy about him retiring?
Gill: Retire.
Bairstow: Then he got you out next ball.
Gill: So what? …. He can get me out after 100. How many 100s did you score?
Bairstow: How many did you score? Full stop.
Another player [possibly goalkeeper Dhruv Jurel] chimed in and was heard saying:
Jonny bhai, easy”
Sarfaraz then joined in and remarked:
“Chup baithne bol isko. Thoda sa run kya bana liye zyaada uchal raha hai.” [Ask him to keep quiet. He has just scored a few runs]
There have been a few verbal incidents between players from both teams during the current Dharamsala Test. On Day 2, Gill and Anderson were spotted chatting after the former hit the England pacer for six.
When queried about the exchange following the second day of play, Gill responded cheekily:
“I think it would be better for both of us to keep that chat in private!”
Interestingly, the Gill-Anderson exchange was the starting point of the conversation between Jonny Bairstow and Gill on Saturday.
Jonny Bairstow fails to convert another start as England face massive defeat
After taking India’s last two wickets early on Day 3, England would have hoped for a strong start with the bat in their second innings. Instead, they lost half their team in the first session of play.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who, like Bairstow, is playing his 100th Test, removed Ben Duckett (2), Zak Crawley (0), and Ollie Pope (19), leaving England on 36/3. Jonny Bairstow battled for a while before being trapped lbw by Kuldeep with a crisp turn back in that caught the right-hander right in front of the stumps.
Ashwin then put an end to Ben Stokes’ wretched series with the bat, hitting him for two with one that smashed past the batter’s defense.
