Bairstow's epic reply to reporter's 'Did Kohli poke the bear' question after Edgbaston ton, opens up on heated exchange

Moments after Bairstow's century, Sehwag had taken to Twitter to highlight the change in gears in his batting post the incident. "Jonny Bairstow's Strike Rate before Kohli's Sledging -: 21; Post Sledging - 150," he wrote

Amid India's pace-bowling dominance, Jonny Bairstow's century and visitors maintaining their lead in the ongoing fifth Test between India and England at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground, the one aspect that took centre stage was the on-field spat between Bairstow and former India skipper Virat Kohli. And amid the video of their clash doing rounds on social media, former India cricketer Virender Sehwag's tweet went viral that highlighted Bairstow's change in gear after the Kohli incident. But the England batter responded in epic fashion when asked “Did Kohli poke the bear" question.

Jonny Bairstow opens up on Kohli clash

Day 3 in Birmingham had taken off to a tensed start as Kohli was spotted in a heated exchange with Bairstow. It wasn't the first time in this Test match as he had ruthlessly sledged the England batter on the previous day as well. The video of their spat, once again, went viral on social media.

However, while Kohli might have done it to rattle Bairstow, the latter kept focus on his batting and eventually reached his third-straight triple-figure mark in Test cricket, scoring a knock of 106 runs that helped England avoid follow-on.

Moments after Bairstow's century, Sehwag had taken to Twitter to highlight the change in gears in his batting post the incident. "Jonny Bairstow's Strike Rate before Kohli's Sledging -: 21; Post Sledging - 150," he wrote while lashing out at Kohli for sledging the batter.

At day end, Bairstow was asked on the same lines, whether Kohli's words made him more determined - "Did he poke the bear?" And he replied saying, "It's a nice pun that in it".

Such was the spat that even two on-field umpires, Aleen Dar and Richard Kettleborough were forced to intervene and clam the situation down.

However, Bairstow brushed aside any differences between the two, saying there was "literally nothing" and rather joked saying, "Refused to invite him for dinner."

"As I mentioned earlier, there was literally nothing. We've been fortunate to play against each other for ten years. So, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to have dinner. Don't worry about it," he further added.