Virat Kohli and Jonny Bairstow
Star England batter Jonny Bairstow spoke about the heated exchange of words with Virat Kohli during the third day of the rescheduled fifth Test.
During the morning session on Sunday, Kohli started sledging Bairstow about his 'play and miss' game and Bairstow too reverted back. At one point, the umpires and England skipper Ben Stokes had to intervene to cool down tempers.
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However, when asked about the incident, Bairstow said that it was part and parcel of the game. "Nah, there was literally nothing to it," Bairstow, who hit 106 off 140 balls, said.
"We've played against each other for a solid 10 years now. It's a bit of craic (having a good time, enjoyable social activity). We're fiercely competitive on the field and that's what it's about.
"We're playing Test cricket and we're two competitors. It brings the best out of us. Whatever it takes, you want to get your team over the line and that's part and parcel of the game."
After that altercation, Bairstow started chancing his arms and played a lot of lofted shots over mid-off, and clipped a few towards the mid-wicket boundary.
"We've been fortunate to play against each other for over 10 years now. So, we have had some battles on the field.
"I am pretty sure we will be able to have dinner. Don't worry about that," added Bairstow.
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Bairstow's century helped England to add 284 runs in reply to India's 416. India was 125/3 at stumps on day three, extending their overall lead to 257 runs.
Squads -
England Playing XI: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Sam Billings, Matty Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, James Anderson
India Playing XI: Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
(Inputs from PTI)
