India Vs England, 3rd Test: Zak Crawley Unleashes Time-Wasting Drama At Lord's, Things Get Heated Up - Video

It was Test cricket at its glorious, esoteric best. With nearly seven minutes of play remaining on Day 3 and England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett desperate to minimise their stay in the middle, some serious time-wasting drama unfolded at Lord's in the third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. In the end, the English tactics worked as only one Jasprit Bumrah over could be bowled, and India returned wicketless.

Just like Ben Stokes' men in the first innings, the Shubman Gill-led visitors were dismissed for 387 in their first essay, making it the fifth-highest total where the two sides equalled their first-innings tally. With 10 minutes of change over, three overs were expected at the fag end of Saturday (July 12, 2025).

Follow India Vs England LIVE Cricket Score, 3rd Test Day 4

But the England innings started a whole 90 seconds late, as Crawley unleashed easily apparent delaying antics. The 27-year-old top-order batter first took an eternity to get ready to face the first ball, then kept pulling out mid-over, citing sightscreen trouble.

The flash point came when Crawley signalled for the physio after fending off the fifth ball, and all the Indian close-in fielders swarmed around him and Duckett. Gill was in the thick of it, first gesticulating that his action would cost the right-hander some match fees and then getting even more animated. You can watch how it all transpired in the video below:

Things got really heated up and umpire Paul Reiffel was cool as a cucumber as he tried to defuse the situation. It must be noted that when India toured Australia months back, opener Usman Khawaja did all he could to waste time against Bumrah in a similar situation at Sydney. An inspired Bumrah sent the Aussie opener back then, but England survived at Lord's and ended the day at two for no loss after the sole over.