On the eve of the last day of the Lord's Test, England batsman Harry Brook revealed how head coach Brendon McCullum's "too nice" swipe at the players ignited the squad. Following India's verbal assault on opener Zak Crawley on the third night, Brook described Day 5 as the "perfect opportunity" to alter their "too nice" demeanor.

The other Indian players sarcastically applauded Crawley's deliberate time-wasting, as claimed by Indian captain Shubman Gill, before Ben Duckett stepped in. In the third Test, there were additional flashpoints between the two teams. The following morning, for which the ICC disciplined him, pace bowler Mohammed Siraj had aggressively celebrated Duckett's wicket and even made physical contact with him in his follow-through. On the last day, Brydon Carse and Ravindra Jadeja engaged in a tense discussion.

On Day 5, England displayed aggression, effectively defending 192 and folding India for 170 to gain a 2-1 lead in the series.

In an interview with BBC Sport, Brook said that the team discussion on the fourth night, when the game was at its peak, brought up McCullum's remarks.

"In fact, a few days prior, he told us that we are sometimes too nice," Brook said. "The night before the last day, I brought it up, saying, 'Baz said the other day we're too nice, I think tomorrow is a perfect opportunity to really get stuck into them.'" It occurred at the ideal moment. What they did the night before gave us the chance to avoid being the good guys.

"We watched two of our men out there on their own, returning fire at the Indians after they were attacking them. We simply decided that we wouldn't tolerate that. We spoke and said, "it's time to not be those nice guys that we have been before."

Now that they are going to Manchester for the fourth Test, India must win after suffering a defeat in London. Furthermore, their preparations for the game were severely hampered when three players were injured, forcing the selectors to select Anshul Kamboj as a replacement. Due to injury, fast bowler Arshdeep Singh was unable to play in the fourth match, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy was unable to play in the remainder of the series, and pacer Akash Deep is questionable for the Manchester game.

They have never won a Test match at Old Trafford, which makes India's problems even worse. They tried nine times at the location, but they lost four times and drew five times.

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