'He Is More Than Welcome To Give Me A Ring': Jonny Bairstow Responds To Sunil Gavaskar's 'Uninterested' Comment

After a match-winning hundred against India in the 2nd ODI in Pune on Friday, England opener Jonny Bairstow has hit back at Sunil Gavaskar, who accused him of seeming ‘uninterested’ to play Test cricket. Jonny Bairstow’s Test career might be on a downward spiral for now, but he has been in a red-hot form in One-day international cricket. The right-handed batsman stated that Sunil Gavaskar could call him if he wants to speak about his willingness to do well in Tests with reference to the commentator’s earlier comments.

The recent Test series against India saw Jonny Bairstow register three ducks out of the four innings he played as he found it challenging to decode the hosts’ spinners. While the Yorkshire keeper-batsman has never indicated his willingness to opt out of Tests, the selectors might not pick him in the squad for some time now due to inconsistencies. But Bairstow has been in a terrific form in ODIs, responding well to his roles in ODIs and T20Is.

Jonny Bairstow revealed that he heard no such comments and baffled how such observations came to light when he had no communications with Sunil Gavaskar about his lack of interest in playing Tests. Thus, Bairstow welcomed Gavaskar to ring him so he could convey the enjoyment he derives out of playing the red-ball format.

“First of all, no, I hadn’t heard that and secondly, I am interested as to how opinion can have been made especially when there has been no correspondence and communication between myself and him. So he is more than welcome to give me a ring and I will speak to him about my will to do well in Test cricket and the enjoyment I do get out of playing Test cricket. As I said, my phone is on. If he wants, he can call or message me,” Bairstow said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

Jonny Bairstow hails England’s batting depth in ODI cricket:

The 31-year old lauded England’s batting depth, particularly with Adil Rashid, who has ten first-class centuries to follow at 10 or 11. Jonny Bairstow pointed out with Moeen Ali, Tom Curran, and Sam Curran also present; the top-order gets plenty of confidence to play freely. The right-handed batsman hit a century and shared a 175-run stand with Ben Stokes to lead England to a six-wicket win against India and levelled the three-match ODI series.

“We have Adil Rashid coming in at 10 or 11. Adil on his own rights has got 10 first class hundreds. To have that kind of player coming in at 10 or 11, not many teams around the world have that. If you couple that with the power-hitters in Moeen Ali, Curran brothers, the list can go on. So yeah, definitely does give you a lot of confidence knowing that the batting lineup is strong,” he added.

Also Read: India vs England 2021: 3 Reasons Why India Lost The Second ODI