Defiant Jonny Bairstow relishes Mohali challenge - India v England, 3rd Test, Mohali, 1st day
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A defiant 177-ball 89 from Jonny Bairstow, in his new position at number 5, helped England post 268 for 8 at stumps on the first day of the third Test against India that began in Mohali on Saturday.
England's captain, Alastair Cook, won the toss and opted to bat first on a Mohali surface that showed early signs of turn and bounce. India's bowlers took advantage of the conditions, but their fielders were sloppy and dropped four catches in the course of the day.
England's top order squandered their chances and failed to capitalize. Haseeb Hameed was the first to fall, for nine, as an Umesh Yadav delivery bounced steeply and he gloved it to gully.
Cook, dropped twice, and Joe Root looked to steady the innings, but the duo departed an over-apart leaving the tourists looking shaky at 51 for 3. Mohammed Shami then lured Moeen Ali into a miscued hook from the fourth delivery of his spell, leaving the tourists at 92 for 4 at lunch.
While wickets fell around him, Bairstow looked solid in defence. He joined forces with an inform Ben Stokes and the duo added 57 runs for the fifth wicket, which guided England to 144, before Ravindra Jadeja beat Stokes in flight and had him stumped.
Bairstow stayed put and brought up his 50 from 76 balls, which included five fours. But in the final session of the day, India's bowlers applied the brakes with a testing bowling display. Bairstow added 36 more runs but required 99 balls to get them.
Jayant Yadav finally trapped him lbw six overs from stumps. Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes were the other batsmen to fall on the first day. In his career thus far, Bairstow has averaged 72.73 batting in the first innings of Tests. Among batsmen to score at least 1000 runs, his average is the sixth-highest. He has made 1091 runs in the first innings of a match, including three hundreds and six fifties in 17 innings
"When we won the toss it was disappointing to lose wickets that we have, but at the same time it could have been a disastrous day as well, it could have been something if we didn't knuckle down and work hard through the last bit of the morning session, afternoon session and evening session, we could have been bowling tonight, so we've got to take the positives from that," Bairstow said.
"I've batted at five, batted six, batted at seven, but it's not something that has not changed my mentality or mindset. It's just a case of going out and trying to score as many runs as possible, given the situations."