England national cricket team’s great batsman Alastair Cook, who has led the Three Lions to many famous victories as captain, has called for star batsman and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow to be dropped from the playing XI ahead of the fourth Test against the Indian national cricket team.
The Ben Stokes-led England are currently touring India for a five-match Test series and their performance has gone downhill after an excellent win in the first Test. One of the main reasons behind England’s poor run has been the batting failure of Jonny Bairstow, who was expected to take over the Indian bowling attack with his Bazball approach.
On his fourth tour of India, Jonny Bairstow is averaging 17.00 in six innings and has recorded scores of 0 and 4, 25 and 26, 37 and 10 in his previous three outings in Rajkot, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad.
In particular, expectations are very high for Bairstow because he is playing as a pure batsman and the burden of wicket-keeping has been taken away from him. England have chosen to entrust the maintenance tasks to Ben Foakes, considered one of the best gloves in the world today.
While Ben Foakes’ glove work has certainly been top-notch, as he has made some impressive catches and saved crucial runs for his team, his batting has been disappointing. The England star recorded the following scores in 6 innings against India: 13, 16, 6, 36, 4 and 34.
I will take Jonny Bairstow out of the line of fire to protect the player – Alastair Cook
Speaking to TNT Sports, England batting great Alastair Cook stated that Jonny Bairstow has struggled on this tour of India and leaving him out of the playing XI would be best for the England team and Jonny Bairstow. To replace Bairstow in the lineup, Cook suggested the name Dan Lawrence, who is the team’s only backup hitter at the moment.
“He’s had a difficult tour so far. And India is a very difficult place to stay in that routine. “I will take Jonny out of the line of fire to protect the player.”
Talking about the ongoing 5-match Test series between the Indian National Cricket Team and the England National Cricket Team, Rohit Sharma & Co. are leading by 2-1 and one more win would ensure them another series win in home.
India faced a disappointing defeat in the first Test by 28 runs as the Bazballers shocked the hosts. However, since then, India have improved their performance and absolutely defeated the visiting team. In the second Test, India scored a victory by 106 runs and in the third Test they won by 434 runs.
The fourth high-octane Test Match will be played from February 23 at the CEJA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi. The Indian national cricket team is expected to be without Jasprit Bumrah in the game as they are likely to rest him after carrying the bowling unit on his back in the first three matches.
Notably, Jasprit Bumrah has performed the best for India in the bowling department and despite the pitches not favoring the pacers, he managed to bag 17 wickets at an average of 13.64. He is also the main wicket-taker of the series.