Ever since the second Test match between India and England concluded at Lord’s with the touring side taking a 1-0 lead in the series, the English media has widely reported an incident in which the cricketer Ollie Robinson was borderline bullied by his competitors behind-the-scenes at the London venue.

According to these reports, after the Sam Curran wicket fell in the second innings and England’s scoreboard read 90/7, it was time for Ollie Robinson to help his side survive the Indian bowling attack.

Padded up, as Robinson was walking towards the ground, two of the reserved players from the Indian side got in his way and refused to let him pass by, albeit only for a couple of seconds. 

“As [Ollie] Robinson descends the pavilion steps, a couple of India players in tracksuits are coming back in the opposite direction, having just been out on the field delivering drinks. Robinson stops and waits for them to step aside," a report in the Guardian newspaper stated.

“They do not step aside. Robinson waits. They wait. Eventually, after a fashion, they sort of awkwardly squeeze past each other. The whole encounter lasts barely a couple of seconds and yet as a motif for this bruising, absorbing final day it is hard to beat," added the report which analysed England’s defeat.

If these reports are true then Virat Kohli and his men have gone way beyond the realm of competitiveness for taking the rivalry outside of the ground and into their dressing rooms and their actions must be condemned. 

The intensity of Virat Kohli!
"Koi aisa haste huwe dikha na mere ko, un ke players ke samne, toh dekh lena. Theek Hai?"
In English: "If I see anyone laughing in front of their players, see what happens. Got it?"
Then concludes: "60 overs should feel like hell out there" #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/OuTmFpp59z

Having said that, this could easily be a moment of misunderstanding in which both sides were awkwardly waiting on each other to pass by and eventually decided to do so at the same time, making it look like they made the English cricketer “squeeze past” them.

The fact remains that this Test series has turned out to be a lot more heated and personal for many players including Virat Kohli, James Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Mohammed Siraj, Jos Buttler, and Jasprit Bumrah, all of whom have acted out at one point or another during the five days of game time.

Can't wait for Bumrah vs Buttler contest pic.twitter.com/Tltt5BXyXz

With the third Test taking place in Leeds from August 25, it will be interesting to see whether the tensions continue to build up or will the week-long break water down the rivalry a little bit.

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