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England head coach Brendon McCullum has leaped to the
defence of under-fire middle order batsman Jonny Bairstow after a string of low
scores in all the three test matches in the 5-match series against India.
It was barely 18 months ago that Bairstow was
plundering runs for fun and was considered one of the chief architects of the
new ‘Bazball’ style that seemed to revolutionize the way England approached the
longest format of the game. However, the Bairstow we are seeing now is just a
pale shadow of that all-dominating version in 2022-23. In 6 innings, he has
scored a measly 102 runs with a highest score of 37 and an average of just 17.
He was dismissed for 4 runs in the second innings capitulation at Rajkot after
being snaffled for a duck in the first innings.
Questions have been raised over his place in the side
after this lean run, while there are genuine doubts on whether he will be able
to reach the 100-test milestone this series or no. Bairstow needs to play all 5
tests to reach that coveted landmark. Skipper Ben Stokes had specially
name-dropped Bairstow as the guy to watch out for in this series, expecting
some ‘pretty special things’ from the Yorkshireman. However, he has been proved
wrong rather emphatically.
However, McCullum has poured cold water over all those
questions for now at least, by showing a public vote of confidence towards the
batter. “You know I can’t answer that, I haven’t even seen the
wicket,” McCullum said when asked about Bairstow’s position. “But I’d
anticipate Jonny would be playing, yes.”
“Yeah look, he’s not scored the volume of runs he
would have wanted and a couple of times he’s got out kind of mildly for someone
who’s got the power game Jonny’s got,” he said.
“I don’t have concerns over him. I’m not blind
but he’s done so well for us and he’s had such an impactful career. We know
that a top-quality Jonny Bairstow is as good as anyone in any conditions. So
from our point of view, we’ve got to keep on giving him confidence and block
out a lot of the external noise as well and keep him really present and focused
on what he’s trying to achieve, and I’m sure Jonny will come good.”