"No Sympathy For India": On Ball Change Controversy During Lord's Test, Shubman Gill And Co Blasted
Despite several events taking place on the Day 2 of the India vs England third Test at Lord's, it was the ball change controversy that hogged limelight.
- India requested a ball change in the 91st over of England's innings as they were unhappy with its condition
- India didn't need to change the ball as the one being used earlier was swinging a lot, said Steve Harmison
- "I've got no sympathy for India at all. Why change it?" Steve the ex-England star reasoned
Despite several events taking place on the Day 2 of the India vs England third Test at Lord's, it was the ball change controversy that hogged limelight. In the 91st over of the England innings, India asked for a ball change as the one being used went out of shape. The umpire took the hoop test and fulfilled India's request. What became a matter of debate was the fact that the changed ball looked much older that what it should have been in that stage of the game. This saw India captain Shubman Gill and pacer Mohammed Siraj being involved in an intense chat with umpires as they wanted the ball to be changed with a relatively newer ball.
Gill even lashed out at the umpire while Siraj was also vocal over the incident. However, former England pacer Steve Harmison had a different perspective to the incident.
He said that India didn't need to change the ball as the one being used earlier was swinging much more than the one used later.
"I've got no sympathy for India at all. Why change it? Jasprit Bumrah got it swinging around the corners. Mohammed Siraj didn't even throw the ball to Bumrah, didn't ask his opinion. When he asked for the ball to be changed, the ball was doing a lot. Now, the ball being good enough is a different argument. In this situation, I've got no idea why India decided to change the ball," Harmison said on JioHotstar.
"The ball was doing all sorts. They just picked up three wickets, and then it was an absolute implosion. Gill stopped trying to get Jamie Smith out, put all the fielders out. All of a sudden, you've now got the older ball. I do agree the ball was a lot older than the one they replaced. Within 10 minutes, they got from bowling England out for 320 to now potentially England getting 400. Because you feel hard done by when the ball was actually doing quite a lot. That's why I've a pretty little sympathy with India. They should've never done that," he added.
India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team
Jasprit Bumrah