India, July 11 -- With a Dukes ball in one hand and multiple gestures with the other, India captain Shubman Gill was as animated as possible while talking to umpire Saikat. The umpire was trying his best to calm Gill down but India's 25-year-old captain was fuming. The unusual halt in play after the fourth ball of the 91st over of England's innings and Gill's outburst was the ball change. It happened after the original second new ball went out of shape.

One generally doesn't see the fielding side complaining about the ball, which has yielded them three wickets in the first half-hour of a day's play, but India, for some strange reason, complained to the umpires, forcing a ball change. The umpire ran a gauge test, and after it failed, they...