'Do you get any runs outside of India': James Anderson recalls heated exchange with Shubman Gill, reveals batter's reply

James Anderson and Shubman Gill were engaged in a war of words on the second day of the fifth Test in Dharamsala. The heated moment unfolded after Gill scored a gritty hundred in the first innings. Anderson, who entered the series with the aim of picking up his 700th wicket in Tests, needed two more to achieve the historic feat at that moment. The altercation between Gill and Anderson was captured on the broadcaster’s camera. The Indian youngster was asked to share the details of their conversation in a post-match interaction, but he kept quiet.

On Tuesday, Anderson, while speaking on BBC’s Tailenders podcast, finally spilled the beans on the exchange. According to the pacer, he was the one who initiated the verbal feud. “I said something to him (Gill) like ‘Do you get any runs outside of India?’ and he said, ‘It’s time to retire’. Then two balls later, I got him out,” Anderson recalled.

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Anderson took a dig at Gill’s underwhelming record in away Tests. He has managed only 556 runs at an average of 32.70 in his 10 Tests in foreign conditions. Gill, however, has showcased his A-game on home soil. In his 13 Test appearances in India, Gill has racked up 869 runs including three centuries and four fifty-plus scores.

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Only a few moments later, Anderson castled Gill with a fiery delivery to claim his 699th wicket in the longest format. The English speedster breached the 700-wicket mark later on the third day of the Dharamsala Test by dismissing Kuldeep Yadav.

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In the podcast, Anderson further revealed that Yadav had assumed that he would become the historic 700th wicket of the legendary pacer. The Indian spinner made the prediction after surviving an edge. “Kuldeep edged one down to third man for a single and as he got to the non-striker’s end and as I was walking back to my mark, he said, ‘I’m going to be your 700th wicket. He wasn’t saying he was trying to get out, he was just saying he had a feeling. We both laughed at it,” Anderson said.

Also read | Three things we learned from India's 4-1 series victory over England

On the third day of the fifth Test, Gill was seen sledging Jonny Bairstow after the English batter said, “What did you said to Jimmy, that you are retiring? Then he gets you out the next ball.” In reply to the question, Gill said, “So what? He can get me out after my hundred. What you have done in this series?” Bairstow was also in no mood to calm down as he hit back, saying, “How many have scored full-stop.”

Sarfaraz Khan interfered later to resolve the matter as he told Bairstow, “Jonny bhai, easy, Jonny bhai easy.” He also asked his teammate not to extend the argument. Referring to Gill, Sarfaraz asked wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, “Chup rehne bol usko, jara sa run kya bana liya series mein uchal raha hai (Ask him to calm down. He has scored a few runs in the series and he is getting excited)”

India lost the first Test in Hyderabad by 28 runs but bounced back to clinch the series 4-1. Yashasvi Jaiswal was the series’ top-scorer with 712 runs whereas Ravichandran Ashwin ended as the highest wicket-taker in the series with 26 scalps.