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India v/s England: How Bairstow repaid captain's faith

The flame-haired Yorkshireman was given a clear cut picture that he would now be a No. 5 batter in the team, in stead of his earlier position of No. 7.

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England’s Jonny Bairstow en route to his 89-run knock that saved his team from a major collapse against India on Saturday
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It was only two days before the third Test in Mohali that Jonny Bairstow was given verbal orders about his promotion in the batting order.

The flame-haired Yorkshireman was given a clear cut picture that he would now be a No. 5 batter in the team, in stead of his earlier position of No. 7.

This didn't come as surprise to Bairstow as he knew that it has been a reward for amassing more than 1300 runs in Test cricket so far, and being the highest run scorer for England in this ongoing season.

Bairstow paid back the confidence of his team with his gritty knock of 89 on the Day One of the Mohali's third Test.

Bairstow clearly relished his promotion and never let his team miss the dropping of promising Ben Duckett.

Having been selected to keep the wickets, despite the presence of Buttler, Bairstow was happy to have averted a near disaster for his team with his patiently made 89 on Day One of the game after an early setback.

"Obviously, having won the toss, it was disappointing to lose the wickets we have," he said, adding: "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 that last bit of the morning session, we could have been bowling tonight."

Having been reduced to 87 for four, Bairstow built partnerships with Ben Stokes (57) and Jos Buttler (69) to save team the blushes.

"The pitch is probably going to be at its best today, and maybe a bit tomorrow. But we've also seen some uneven bounce as well and that could probably worse with passing time. We're fighting… we're in the battle," was how he summed up the Day One proceedings.

He, however, revealed that there was not much of adjustment that he had to do in his batting after being asked to bat up in the order. "I don't mind where I bat. It's not something that plays on my mind. I didn't really see it as a change, being at No. 5. Grinding out the runs was something that we had to do. The confidence the captain has shown in me, to bat me at five, is really good and I'd like to think I've repaid that faith," said Bairstow.

On missing what would have been a very pleasing century, he said: "I was really cheesed off to get out like that. That hurt me pretty bad... I was desperately disappointed to get out, especially towards the end of the day, because I thought we'd fought back really well."

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