It's not the day that we were looking for. And, obviously losing Ben Stokes in the last over just caps it off," Bairstow (15) said after Day 3 play.
Jonny Bairstow was one of those who fell late on Monday at a time when England needed him the most. Having been the highest scorer for England in the ongoing season, Bairstow knows how his failure with the bat in the second knock has put visitors in a difficult position with four top-order wickets gone for just 78.
"It's not the day that we were looking for. And, obviously losing Ben Stokes in the last over just caps it off," Bairstow (15) said after Day 3 play. "We thought that if we've got a couple of quick wickets this morning, we'd have been in a good position. That didn't happen and we're now fighting an uphill battle," added Bairstow, who took his 68th dismissal this calendar year when he caught Umesh Yadav, the most by a wicketkeeper in Tests (see box).
"It's a special day for me. There was a lot of speculation about a year ago on whether I should be keeping wickets, so to put the hard work in, and for that to come to fruition, I'm delighted. To go past some of the great names to have ever kept wicket for their country is a great achievement," said the 27-year-old from Yorkshire.
"It's something that we have to take on the chin, and we've still got a lot of batting to come, we have to remember that, and hopefully the guys can fight hard tomorrow (Tuesday). We'll keep digging in, like we did in the first innings, and like we did with the ball – we got ourselves back in a good position, but we just weren't able to capitalise today," he said.
When asked about opener Haseeb Hameed injury, who was hit on the thumb in the first innings, Bairstow conceded that "he hasn't got a chance to catch up with him as he was on the field for entire day".
But he refused to blame the Mohali pitch for the condition that England are in currently. "Obviously, there is a bit of variable bounce. But you expect that on Day Three. At the same time, it is still a decent pitch," Bairstow said.
As for where England go from here in this game, Bairstow added, "it is what it is. We'll try to get as many as we can. Tomorrow morning will be a massive session for us as a side. First of all, we need to get level, get parity with them. And the amount we get past them is the amount we get past them. We are not looking for a specific target at this moment of time. It's not like we've gone out there and just blocked, we still scored some runs. Hopefully in the morning, we can go out there and score as many as it takes."
n zone
68
No. of dismissals for Jonny Bairstow in 2016 when he removed Umesh Yadav, the most by a wicketkeeper in Tests in a calendar year. The previous best was 67 by Ian Healy (1993) and Mark Boucher (1998)
3
No. of five-wicket haul in Tests by Ben Stokes when he took 5/73 on Monday
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