Moeen Ali sees shades of Virat Kohli in Shubman Gill's on-field aggression at Lord's
The third Test between England and India at Lord's was blockbuster stuff, both in terms of quality of cricket and the entertainment provided by players from both teams during their heated exchanges. Unlike India-Pakistan or India-Australia games, the rivalry between India and England is seldom known to be extreme high intensity, barring the odd event which can be called an anomaly.
However, the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy has seen plenty of on-field aggression with the temperatures soaring during the third day when England's openers, notably Zak Crawley, were wasting time at the fag end of the day to ensure that India got just an over to bowl. The antics from Crawley didn't please the Indian side and most of their players led by skipper Shubman Gill had a go at Crawley. As expected, India's aggression invited polarized reactions and some felt that Gill had gone overboard.
Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali, though, chose to differ and stated that he had no issues with such on-field aggression as such incidents light up the game's mood. Moeen defended Gill's actions and also compared the 25-year-old's aggression to that of Virat Kohli who is often known as the pioneer of India's on-field aggression in Test cricket. However, Moeen also felt that these incidents only helped to fire up England who were under pressure till that point, not only due to the Edgbaston defeat but also with the way India played in the first few days at Lord's.
“It’s fine, I think he (Gill) was just trying to be competitive and try to fight, very similar to Virat Kohli, I think it’s fine," said Moeen while speaking on FanCode. But what you have done is that you brought out the best of England, the fight, and the beast England can be. I think that’s the different side of England that the players showed. It’s great for the series, I don’t know why he gets criticised."
The Lord's Test saw plenty more incidents over the last two days of the match with the Brydon Carse-Ravindra Jadeja face-off arguably being the most intense of the lot. The two had almost rammed into each other while Jadeja was attempting a run and it didn't please Carse who had a go at the India all-rounder. Mohammed Siraj was mostly in ear of England's batters and celebrated wildly most of the times. As such, the aggression levels were box office and like Moeen said, it only added flavour to the already high quality of cricket on display.
With England's thrilling 22-run win at Lord's, they are now leading 2-1 in the five-match series with the fourth Test of the series scheduled on Wednesday (July 23).
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