England might have returned to the drawing board after the Rajkot Test hammering, but head coach Brendon McCullum feels out of form Jonny Bairstow wouldn’t take long before finding the ‘old form’ back that once made him the poster boy of Bazball. 

Giving up keeping meant Bairstow could wholly and solely concentrate on his batting exploits, as predicted by captain Ben Stokes ahead of the series. 

“We saw what we managed to get out of him, and I don’t want him to worry about anything other than batting at five, getting runs, and what’s in front of him in the here and now,” Stokes said ahead of the start of the Test series.

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However, that didn’t turn out the way everyone thought, as Bairstow struggled to find form in three Tests played thus far. With scores of 0 and 4 in two innings in Rajkot, Bairstow failed miserably in helping his team when the chips were down. 

Despite averaging a mere 17 on his fourth India tour, Bairstow might still retain his place in the XI for the do-or-die Test for England in Ranchi, McCullum hinted. 

When asked to comment on the playing XI for the next game, which starts on Friday (Feb 23), the coach said, “You know I can’t answer that, I haven’t even seen the wicket,” when asked about Bairstow’s position. “But I’d anticipate Jonny would be playing, yes,” McCullum said.

‘Bairstow still got it’

Having played 98 Tests, Bairstow falls in the category of modern-day greats for England. And though he has seen it all since debuting in Tests 12 years ago, the right-handed batter introduced Bazball to world cricket with his impressive strokeplay at the start of Stokes-McCullum tenure.

With him notching up four centuries in Stokes’ first six matches as Test captain, McCullum knows what Jonny can do when in form, and the coach is ready to give him an extended run to get back into the groove. 

“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,” McCullum 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,” the head coach noted. 

India leads the five-match series 2-1.

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