There have been several intense moments between India and England in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series, with tempers flaring. However, India captain Shubman Gill made it clear that there was no animosity between the players off the pitch.

Gill got into an argument with Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley at Lord’s over timewasting in the last over of the day. At Old Trafford, Ben Stokes extended a handshake — indicating the willingness to call it a draw — to Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar when they were inching closer to their centuries. Things spiced up further on Tuesday as India head coach Gautam Gambhir had a heated exchange with The Oval chief pitch curator Lee Fortis.

While Gill supported Gambhir, he downplayed the other incidents. His comments came in the wake of Stokes’ statement that his team has moved on from the handshake episode.

“These are three very separate movements, not correlated at all. I have already explained what happened at Lord’s and even regarding the last match.

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What happened yesterday was unnecessary. It’s not the first time that we have had a look at the wicket. A coach has every right to be able to go to close quarters and have a look at the wicket. And I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that,” Gill said.

“I don’t know why the curator would not allow us to go have a look at the wicket… If a pitch curator is going to come and ask us to look at the wicket from three metres behind, that is not something that has happened before.

We have been playing cricket for such a long time, and as long as you are wearing rubber spikes or you are barefoot, you are allowed to look at the wicket from close quarters. And that is the job of the coach and the captain,” he added.