Jonny Bairstow is having a stinker of a series. In the seven innings he’s played so far in the India vs England Test series, the wicketkeeper batter has scored just 140 runs at 20 with the highest score of 38. To make matters worse, he isn’t even keeping the wickets and playing as a top-5 batter.
Bairstow was caught in front of the wicket by Ravichandran Ashwin, going for a massive slog sweep. Soon after he departed, England skipper Ben Stokes joined his teammate, and England went from 109/3 to 112/5. As his poor run continues, former England opener Nick Knight criticized the aggressive batter for not adapting to the situation.
“How many times did we talk at the top of our show about no sweeping on this surface? I thought that was a really poor option. You know, we talk a lot about Bazball, but we talk a lot about being aggressive. What about adapting to the situation? What about playing the situation What about using your feet?” He said this while talking on JioCinema.
On why Jonny Bairstow playing the sweep to Ashwin was wrong, Knight said:
“I just felt the ball before it; he cut Ashwin away, picking length well. It’s not so much that you shouldn’t be aggressive; it is just the way that you’re aggressive. And I just felt that (sweep shot) wasn’t the right option at the right time.”
