England batter Jonny Bairstow and former Indian captain Virat Kohli had a heated argument in the first session of Day three. Kohli, who is known to take the bull by its horns, had a few words to say to the England batter, who also gave a piece of his mind to the Indian.
Bairstow had got off to a sedate start as he scored 13 runs off 61 balls before Kohli decided to sledge him. But the former Indian captain poked at a sleeping bear and Bairstow changed his gears to score the next 93 runs off just 79 balls as he let his bat do all the talking.
In fact, after the first verbal battle, Ben Stokes, the England captain had a word with Virat Kohli between the overs, and the former Indian skipper was seen exchanging a smile with Bairstow. Kohli also applauded Bairstow when he reached his 11th Test hundred, which was his third consecutive century.
Bairstow believes that such passion brings the best out of them and he didn’t want to take a backseat when Kohli had a go at him.
Jonny Bairstow said in the press-conference, “(On Kohli’s sledge) We have played against each other for almost ten years now. It’s a bit of a crack-in. We are fiercely competitive on the field. That why we play Test cricket, and that’s what brings the best out of us. You want to do whatever you can to get your team over the line, and it’s part and parcel of the game.”
Bairstow has been in fine form in the recent past and he continued the good show. The right-hander timed the ball to perfection against the Indian bowlers and took calculated risks by clearing the field. Thus, Bairstow didn’t play recklessly and batted at the top of his game.
It was because of Bairstow’s knock of 106 runs that England was able to post 284 runs in the first innings otherwise India’s lead could have been more. The right-hander took a penchant for hitting the Indian bowlers on the leg-side and played a brilliant knock.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli was dismissed cheaply after scoring 20 runs. Kohli received a peach of a delivery from Ben Stokes and Joe Root took a fine reflex catch after Sam Billings bungled it.
Meanwhile, India has a big lead of 257 runs and they are in a commanding position in the Test match.
