The fourth and final Test of the India-England series at the Narendra Modi stadium started out just like the Men in Blue had imagined, with spinner Axar Patel doing some early damage to the English batting order while pacers Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Siraj scare them with extreme swing with the new ball.
One of the early highlights of Day 1 at the Motera stadium came in the 8th over of the first innings when English opener Zak Crawley decided to walk down the pitch to go for a big shot but failed to generate enough momentum and the ball ended up comfortably flying into the hands of Siraj, who was standing at mid off.
View this post on InstagramWhat caught the attention of the fans who were watching the match live was that Indian wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant could sense some sort of frustration in the way Crawley was batting.
7.4 overs - Rishabh Pant "someone is getting angry now".
7.5 overs - Crawley hits the aerial shot coming down the track and gets out.#IndvEng #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/8nKE8slOHJ
Pant could see the Englishmen find ways to go for the boundary ropes. After all, he was the most successful batsman for the touring side in the previous match and he did so while playing aggressively (53 runs of 84 deliveries while hitting 10 boundaries in the first innings of the third Test).
So, in order to get under Crawley’s skin, Pant started shouting in English. “Someone is getting angry, somebody is getting angry,” shouted the Indian glovesman repeatedly between Patel’s deliveries.
On the other hand, skipper Virat Kohli also looked extremely chatty while standing at slip, close to the batsman. He continued to taunt Crawley by saying things like, “loose wicket coming boys” with the hopes of getting him riled up.
Pant and Kohli before the Wicket : "Someone is getting angry" (Pant) "Loose Wicket coming boys" (Kohli)
Next Ball : Crawley goes for a Aerial Shot and Caught.
Pant and Kohli ♥️
“Someone is getting angry” and Crawley hits out! Good from Pant.
— AB (@AB_Singh7) March 4, 2021*Someone is getting angry* worked
— lemniscate (@nomoodtotalk) March 4, 2021It didn’t take long for Kohli and Pant’s tactics to work as Crawley ended up throwing his wicket on the fifth ball.
After 12.1 overs, England are at 30/3 with skipper Joe Root’s wicket being taken by Siraj who trapped him with an excellent delivery for an LBW appeal.
With a 2-1 lead in the series, the Men in Blue look to win or draw the match while trying to make their way into the finals of the World Test Championship to face Kane Williamson's New Zealand roster at London’s Lord’s Cricket Ground in June 2021.
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