India, July 29 -- At the start of the summer, England's head coach asked their players to improve their 'humility' after comments made by several players in the media came under scrutiny. Pacer Mark Wood acknowledged that they could be a 'bit dumb'.

At Lord's a fortnight back, the same man who had called for humility indicted his wards for being 'too nice'. Brendon McCullum, the Mr. Nice Guy from New Zealand, had had enough of niceness; this Test series hasn't been the same again.

Things came to a head on the third evening at Lord's when Shubman Gill had a go at Zak Crawley for deliberate time-wasting tactics. The next day, when India finished needing 135 for victory with six wickets in hand, Washington Sundar said India would 'definite...