
England pacer James Anderson revealed Jonny Bairstow was left annoyed after Virat Kohli's continuous sledging attempts against him during the recently-concluded fifth Test between India and England at Edgbaston. England thrashed India by 7 wickets in the rescheduled fifth Test to draw the 2-2 and deny the visitors a historic Test series win. Bairstow and Joe Root were the heroes with the bat for England as they slammed centuries apiece to help the hosts chase down the target of 378 runs comfortably in their second innings.
Bairstow, who slammed back-to-back hundreds in England's both innings, was involved in a heated exchange with Indian star Kohli on Day 3 of the Test match. The duo had an exchange in the middle before Kohli was seen gesturing Bairstow to shut down with a finger on his lips. Bairstow remained unfazed despite Kohli's sledging attempts and notched up a brilliant century.
Anderson revealed Kohli was sledging Bairstow a lot but it only worked in the favour of the England batter as it pumped him up and helped him improve his scoring rate. Anderson also recalled Bairstow's reaction in the dressing room at lunch after Kohli's sledging attempts against him.
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"Jonny was 80 not out and Virat had been going at him and sledging him a lot. I don't know if you saw the strike-rate difference? His strike rate was about 20 before Virat started sledging him and about 150 after," Anderson said on BBC Tailenders Podcast speaking about the heated exchange between Kohli and Bairstow.
"His first words back in the dressing room at lunch were: 'When will they learn to shut it?' If there's somebody you don't want to rub up the wrong way, it is Jonny Bairstow," the England pacer added.
Bairstow was one of the stand-out performers for England in the Edgbaston Test with knocks of 106 and an unbeaten 114 in the two innings respectively. The stylish right-hander turned out to be a nightmare for Indian bowlers during England's run-chase in the second innings as he looked in fine form and helped the hosts pull off their highest ever run chase in Test cricket.