England batter Harry Brook has blamed the Indian team for the on-field tensions that escalated during the Lord’s Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, calling out India’s approach towards Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett late on Day 3 as the moment that lit the fuse. India, who were racing against time for another over before Stumps, were seen accusing Crawley of time-wasting. The tension flared when Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj confronted Crawley, while Gill also got into a heated moment with Duckett. Brook, speaking ahead of the fourth Test in Manchester, said the Indian players provoked the situation. “Yeah, we saw them guys going at Creeps (Zak Crawley) and Ducky (Ben Duckett), so we had a little chat and we thought we were a team, so we may as well combine with each other, get together and yeah, go back in there,” Brook told reporters.
India eventually folded in their second innings, failing to chase 193 as England took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. The atmosphere remained charged, especially on Day 4, when England’s Brydon Carse and captain Ben Stokes responded aggressively – Carse exchanged words with Akash Deep. Asked whether the aggressive reaction was good for the game, Brook said the public reaction was overwhelmingly positive. “I’ve had a lot of compliments, everybody said that it was awesome to watch and it looked like there was 11 versus 2 out there and we’re fielding and it was good fun. It was good fun. It was tiring, but yeah, it was good. It made fielding a lot more enjoyable,” he said.During the game, England batter Ben Duckett also took aim at Gill when he came out to bat, saying, “600 runs and he is done for the series. 600 runs is enough for this fella.”
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Brook maintained that England were mindful of the line, but India’s response nudged them to respond. “Yeah, absolutely. And we’d try and play in the spirit of the game as much as possible. And like you said, them lads went hard and Creeps and Ducky on that night when they bowled that single over. So we watched that and we reassessed and we thought it was the right time to go back at them,” he added.
