England captain Ben Stokes has sent a strong warning to India, stating that they won’t purposely go out and sledge with India, but they won’t back down from a fight either too. However, his comments came after the series saw some heated moments between both teams during the Lord’s Test as India captain Shubman Gill was involved with the England openers, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett.

Speaking at the press conference on the eve of the fourth Test, Ben Stokes said, “I don’t think it’s one of those things where we’re going to necessarily just go out and start at it. I don’t think either teams, you know, really look to do that. I think there’s just always going to be a moment in a Test series where something does heat up, it’s a massive series.”

“There’s a lot of pressure on both teams to go out and perform. So, look the environment when you’re out there. Obviously, there’s gonna be some moments and some heat showing. Obviously, that night when Zak and Ben had to go out just sort of started it off and we had the advantage of bowling last in a Test match to win. So we just threw everything that we possibly could at India, not only with our skills but also with their energy in the field as well,” again said Stokes.

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However, Ben Stokes was reminded of Harry Brook’s comments about coach Brendon McCullum claiming that England were too nice. Stokes also said that it was a nice moment for the team as they came together, but shared that they don’t want to start any war of words in the middle as well.

“It was a real nice moment I think as a team that, when you speak about something like that, and then everyone buys into that. As I said, it’s not something that we’re gonna purposely go out and look to start again because then that’ll take our focus off what we need to do out in the middle. But by no means that, we’re not going to take a backward step and let the opposition try and be confrontational towards us and not try and give a bit back. I think that goes for most teams, to be honest anyway, so it’s not like we’re the only team who does that,” Ben Stokes concluded.

The Manchester Test between England and India will begin on July 23.