Bairstow call blunder so costly for England

A MOMENT of madness from Jonny Bairstow in running out captain Joe Root sparked an England collapse.

With England travelling smoothly after tea on 215-3, Root was on 80 and a century looked well within reach.

But a flash of over-excitement from Bairstow, calling the skipper through for a second run that was never there, coupled with a moment of brilliance from India captain Virat Kohli, saw Root stranded.

It was a moment which Kohli enjoyed, blowing kisses, putting a finger to his lips, then mimicking Root’s ‘mic-drop’ celebration from the decisive one-day international in their recent series.

Panic

More importantly, it was the moment on which the opening day’s fortunes tilted from England towards the tourists.

Root’s wicket prompted a collapse of six wickets for 69 runs in the session.

England might have been all out had wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik managed to hold on to an edge from Sam Curran off Mohammed Shami on the penultimate ball of the day, but they will return this morning on 285-9.

It was no great surprise Bairstow was the next to fall after his skipper, dragging on from outside off.

His dismissal dragged a resurgent India back into the game.

They followed it up when Ravi Ashwin pinned Jos Buttler lbw second ball before the off-spinner picked up Ben Stokes cheaply with a full toss.

From 215-3 England were suddenly on the back foot and it was all so avoidable.

Still, this match is by no means lost and there were some positives to be salvaged from the wreckage. Root picked up where he left off in the ODI series, which he finished with two unbeaten centuries.

There was also a creditable effort from recalled Keaton Jennings despite another failure of the first-wicket partnership to breach either 10 overs or 50 runs.

The blame for that is starting to stack up at the door of Alastair Cook, who yesterday was undone on 13 by a nicely flighted ball from Ashwin, which pitched towards middle and clipped his off stump.

Cook has been an everpresent at the top of the order as England have trawled around helplessly for a successor to Andrew Strauss.

But with him as senior partner in the last

12 months, England have passed 50 just once in 24 attempts and made it beyond 10 overs only five times.

Cook’s dismissal with just 26 on the board provided a measly platform.

But it appeared not to have hindered England too much when

Root and Bairstow were going strongly in a 104-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Jennings had played accurately for 42 before a sloppy dead-bat defence allowed the ball to roll agonisingly on to his stumps.

Dawid Malan lasted just 14 balls, his fourth failure at home this year – in four innings he averages

13.5.

But England will kick themselves for failing to hit 400 on a decent batting track after winning the toss, a failure for which they only have themselves to blame.