England vs India: Nothing Was Said Between Mohammed Siraj And Me, Says Jonny Bairstow On Silent Send-Off

One of the talking points of the opening Test between India and England at Trent Bridge was the way pacer Mohammed Siraj gave batsman Jonny Bairstow a ‘silent’ send-off after dismissing him. While many thought it was the effect of a verbal duel between the two, Bairstow has stressed that no words were exchanged between him and Siraj at Trent Bridge. “There was absolutely nothing in that. He [Mohammed Siraj] didn’t say anything to me and I didn’t say anything to him. I didn’t know where that really came from,” Bairstow said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday ahead of the second Test at Lords.

When asked about verbal arguments in the first Test, he said, “I wasn’t actually sure that there were too many verbals [spat] flying around if am honest. There wasn’t anything Siraj said to me out in the middle and vice-versa.”

For England James Anderson has joined Stuart Broad as an injury doubt ahead of the second Test starting from Thursday. Asked about the same, Bairstow said, “I don’t have really much information.”

Talking about the possibility of both James Andreson and Stuart Broad missing the second Test, Bairstow said, “Yeah it would [be a big loss] for the team. They have got 1000 Test wickets between them. So yeah it’s gonna be a loss, but with it comes the opportunity for other people.”

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Bairstow then stated how the team needs to be adaptive as injury and illness can also occur overnight and it’s the nature of professional sports.

Notably, Saqib Mahmood has been called up as cover for the English side ahead of the second Teststarting from Thursday.