A fighting unbeaten century from England middle-order batter Jonny Bairstow -- his eighth Test ton -- saw England recover from a disastrous start on the opening day of the first Test against the West Indies to post 268/6 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here on Wednesday (IST).
Bairstow built big partnerships with first all-rounder Ben Stokes and then Ben Foakes as England bounced back with the bat on the opening day. West Indies seamers Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales and Jason Holder all picked up two wickets on the day, with Holder producing amazing control to concede just 15 runs from his 16 overs.
England will resume with Bairstow on 109 not out and Chris Woakes on unbeaten 24.
After Bairstow's gritty knock, Indian cricket fans on Twitter had a field day trolling the England men's cricket team and the English experts.
Remember, after England were outplayed in Ashes, former England player David Gower was of the opinion that England Test cricketers are more interested than IPL than playing Tests for their country. Several other experts from England agreed with it.
However, Bairstow is the only Englishc cricketer currently with an IPL contract in the England XI as soon as he hit a hundred, Indian fans started roasting the English team and experts, saying when no other Test specalist scored for England, Bairstow, who played in IPL, did.
Irfan Pathan too joined the roast. He tweeted: "Jonny Bairstow plays IPL?"
Look at some of the reactions:
Root - "I want to prioritize Test format over IPL"
Stokes - "I want to prioritize Test format over IPL"
Bairstow- Only Eng player with 100 against Aus in Ashes and now against WI - Plays IPL regularlyConclusion- IPL and Test performance are not connected @benstokes38 @root66 pic.twitter.com/LVLEuTeeGh
— Diksha (@Delphy06) March 9, 2022
Except Jonny Bairstow everyone is playing IPL. That's why poor performance _____ pic.twitter.com/BdmjJyhlx8
— Ruplekha11__ (@MukherjeeRuplek) March 9, 2022
Everyone skipped IPL for reviving Test cricket and then here is Jonny Bairstow _ #ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/ljJeRGfZeq
— Thomas Shelby (@ineedugrace) March 9, 2022
Other than Bairstow nobody plays IPL from this scorecard. But but IPL spoils Test Cricket _. #IPL2022 #ENGvWI #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/W2e8BCHvk2
— Cricket Crazy (@CricketCrazy00) March 9, 2022
Imagine, #IPL2022 reject Joe Root failing in tests and IPL favourite Bairstow having to bail out England __
all technique destroyed by IPL i am sure #ENGvWI #WIvENG— Yash Dhawan (@Yash_Dhawan_) March 9, 2022
Well yes, helps him score Test hundreds unlike others _ https://t.co/ctjffHrBop
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) March 9, 2022
Statement : IPL destroys Test Cricket.
Bairstow, Rishabh Pant, Jaddu, Warner and Woakes smash it in Tests.
Non IPL players like Root, Crawley, Hasib Hameed and some other often fail.
Conclusion : _
— Eggs Box _ (@virajkalkur) March 9, 2022
