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England ace batter Harry Brook has warned India that his team “don’t always have to be nice” as they prepare to resume hostilities at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
After England battled to a fiery 22-run victory in the third Test at Lord’s, the teams will lock horns again with the series on the line in Manchester.
England on Monday named just one change to that side with Hampshire’s left-arm spinner Liam Dawson making his first Test appearance in eight years at the expense of the injured Shoaib Bashir, while Jofra Archer remains in an unchanged pace attack.
An England win would put them 3-1 up with one game to play, while India must take the last two matches to secure their first Test series triumph on English soil since 2007.
It promises to be another fiercely-fought encounter after India’s fielders clashed with England batsmen Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett in a time-wasting row at Lord’s.
That lit a fire under England when it was their turn to field, with Archer giving a pumped-up send-off to India’s Rishabh Pant.
As the tension mounted in England’s 22-run win, Brydon Carse and India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja were involved in a mid-pitch collision.
But Harry Brook is adamant Ben Stokes’ side did not go to far with their spikey approach in pursuit of victory.
“I’ve had a lot of compliments. Everybody said it was awesome to watch. It was good fun, I have to admit. It was tiring but it made fielding a lot more enjoyable,” he said on Monday.
“I think it put them under a little bit more pressure. The opportunity that arose for us to not be the nice guys was because of what they did. We just thought ‘we’re not standing for that’.
“We had a conversation and said ‘it’s time to not be those nice guys that we have been before’. You don’t always have to be nice. Who knows, that might have played into our favour. It was good fun.
“We were doing it within the spirit of the game. We weren’t going out there effing and jeffing at them and being nasty people. We were just going about it in the right manner.”
READ: Heartbroken Siraj opens up on India’s narrow loss in Lord’s Test
