There was only one winner in the battle between Virat Kohli and Jonny Bairstow following their heated exchange on Day 3 of the series deciding Test between India and England in Birmingham. Before Kohli and Bairstow involved in a war of words, the England wicketkeeper was batting on 13 off 61 balls, but following the confrontation, he accelerated and muscled 93 off the next 79 balls en route to a special hundred. Needless to say, Kohli's tactics backfired. Former England captain Nasser Hussain feels Bairstow is batting on another level, and as it turned out, Kohli mincing words at the England wicketkeeper did not culminate into something the former India captain would have wanted.
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"He has controlled his instincts, he has controlled his emotions and it did not prove wise of Virat Kohli to wind him up because - as we have seen so many times over the years - when Jonny is fiery or has a point to prove he's very dangerous," Hussain wrote in a column for The Daily Mail
"That's three hundreds in successive Tests now, Bairstow adding a high-quality third in this re-arranged last Test against India, and I have not seen him play a single reckless shot in that time. There has not been one occasion when I've thought, 'Don't do that Jonny, you're better than that."
Bairstow's counter-attack injected a fresh leash of life into England’s innings, as the home team marched ahead. Bairstow's knock provided an impetus as England began scoring a lot freely and to a certain level, blunted the sharpness pushed the Indian bowling attack. England ensured the follow-on was avoided as they managed to put 284 on the board. In reply, India in their second innings are 125/3, with a lead of 257, and Hussain reckons the task at hand won’t be an easy one for England.
{{/usCountry}}Bairstow's counter-attack injected a fresh leash of life into England’s innings, as the home team marched ahead. Bairstow's knock provided an impetus as England began scoring a lot freely and to a certain level, blunted the sharpness pushed the Indian bowling attack. England ensured the follow-on was avoided as they managed to put 284 on the board. In reply, India in their second innings are 125/3, with a lead of 257, and Hussain reckons the task at hand won’t be an easy one for England.
{{/usCountry}}"We have to remember England are playing a top-quality team in India. It’s very hard to bully this attack and India have shown when you go hard at them they come back harder, as Kohli was trying to do yesterday," he mentioned.
Former India batter Wasim Jaffer, on being asked whether Kohli’s chirping gave Bairstow the extra motivation, said: "Yes, because before that he was batting very carefully. But when you instigate someone, it backfires sometimes. So maybe Bairstow got pumped up after that sledge."