Jonny Bairstow to be dropped for 4th Test? Brendon McCullum reveals

The 34-year-old England National Cricket Team explosive batsman Jonny Bairstow has been the biggest disappointment for the visitors in the ongoing five-match Test series against Rohit Sharma-led India National Cricket Team.

Expectations were sky-high from Bairstow ahead of the India Test series and the batter has failed to live up to it. He has not been doing the wicket-keeping duties in the series and has been playing as a pure batsman. In Bairstow’s place, Ben Foakes has been given the responsibility to be the gloveman of the side and he has done a spectacular job so far, at least as a keeper.

Meanwhile, Jonny Bairstow has registered the scores of 0 & 4, 25 & 26 37 & 10 in his previous three outings against India in Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, and Hyderabad. Overall, he is averaging 17.00 from six innings.

There have been calls to drop the batsman from the playing XI after his failures and the England head coach Brendon McCullum has finally reacted to the criticism faced by Bairstow. McCullum has stated that even though he has not seen the track for the fourth Test, he is expecting Jonny Bairstow to retain his place in the playing XI.

“You know I can’t answer that, I haven’t even seen the wicket,” McCullum said when asked about Bairstow’s position, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “But I’d anticipate Jonny would be playing, yes.”

The five-match Test series between India and England currently stands at 2-1 with the hosts in the lead. The Rohit Sharma & Co. faced a loss in the first Test but bounced back strong by defeating the Ben Stokes-led side by 106 and 434 runs in the next two Tests.

The crucial fourth Test match will be played from February 23 at the JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi.

The Three Lions would be hoping for a good comeback in the game as a defeat in the 4th Test would mean that Ben Stokes would be losing his first-ever series as skipper and it would also be the first Test series defeat of England in the Bazball era.

He’s not scored the volume of runs he would have wanted – Brendon McCullum on Jonny Bairstow

Brendon McCullum further admitted that the wicketkeeper-batsman has failed to score the runs he would have wanted and highlighted that he got dismissed mildly a few times in the series.

“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,” he said.

However, the England red-ball head coach asserted that Bairstow’s form is not a huge concern for him because the 34-year-old has been a great performer for England over the years. He also spoke about blocking the outside noise after the hammering against India and backing his players to the fullest.

“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.”

England don’t have many options on the bench to replace Jonny Bairstow as Dan Lawrence is the only spare batter in the squad. Earlier, England had named Harry Brook in the team, but he pulled out of the series due to a family matter and is unlikely to return for the matches in India.