England National Cricket Team’s explosive batsman Jonny Bairstow, 34, has been the biggest disappointment for the visitors in the ongoing five-match Test series against the Rohit Sharma-led Indian National Cricket Team.
Bairstow’s expectations were sky-high ahead of the India Test series and the batsman did not live up to it. He has not been fulfilling wicketkeeping duties in the series and has been playing as a pure batsman. In Bairstow’s place, Ben Foakes has been given the responsibility of being the team’s gloveman and he has done a spectacular job so far, at least as a goalkeeper.
Meanwhile, Jonny Bairstow recorded scores of 0 and 4, 25 and 26, 37 and 10 in his previous three outings against India in Rajkot, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad. Overall, he averages 17.00 in six innings.
There have been calls to drop the batsman from the playing XI after his failures and England head coach Brendon McCullum has finally reacted to the criticism Bairstow is facing. McCullum has stated that although he has not seen the track for the fourth Test, he expects Jonny Bairstow to retain his place in the XI.
“You know I can’t answer that, I haven’t even seen the wicket,” McCullum said when asked about Bairstow’s position, quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “But I would anticipate Jonny would be playing, yes.”
The five-match Test series between India and England currently stands at 2-1 with the hosts leading. Rohit Sharma & Co. faced a defeat in the first Test but bounced back strongly by defeating the Ben Stokes-led team by 106 and 434 runs in the next two Tests.
The decisive fourth Test Match will be played from February 23 at the CEJA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi.
The Three Lions would hope for a good comeback in the game as a loss in the fourth Test would mean Ben Stokes would lose his first series as captain and would also be England’s first loss in a Test series in the Bazball. was.
He didn’t score the volume of runs he would have liked: Brendon McCullum on Jonny Bairstow
Brendon McCullum further admitted that the keeper-batsman failed to score the runs he would have liked and highlighted that he was dismissed lightly several times in the series.
“Yeah, look, he didn’t score the volume of runs he would have liked and a couple of times he came out slightly for someone who has the power play that Jonny has,” he said.
However, the England head coach claimed that Bairstow’s form is not a big concern for him because the 34-year-old has been a great player for England over the years. He also talked about blocking out the outside noise after the beating against India and supporting his players as much as possible.
“I have no worries about him. I’m not blind, but he has done very well for us and he has had a very impactful career. We know that a top quality Jonny Bairstow is as good as any in any condition. So, from our point of view, we have to continue to give him confidence and also block out a lot of the outside noise and keep him really present and focused on what he is trying to achieve, and I’m sure Jonny will come. good.”
England do not have many options in the dugout to replace Jonny Bairstow as Dan Lawrence is the team’s only substitute batsman. England had previously named Harry Brook in the squad, but he pulled out of the series due to a family matter and it is unlikely that he will return for the match.It is in India.