We're fiercely competitive on field, it's a bit of craic: Bairstow on Kohli incident

England might be on the backfoot in the Edgbaston Test against India but in-form batter Jonny Bairstow said his team "won't be shutting up shop" no matter what. The middle-order batter slammed 106 off 140 deliveries - his third century in as many matches and fifth in his last eight Tests - but England still ended up conceding a lead of 132 in the first innings.

Bairstow was the only England batter to cross the 40-run mark. India then have managed to extend the lead to 257 and still have seven wickets in hand. The visitors are leading 2-1 in the Covid-delayed series and the onus will be on England to go all guns blazing on the last two days if they want to level the series. 

Against New Zealand, Bairstow smoked 394 runs in three Tests at a stunning strike rate of 120.12. However, he struggled against India at the start of his innings. The right-hander was 13 off 61 deliveries at one stage before smashing 93 off the next 79 balls he faced. 

Talking to Sky Sports, Bairstow admitted that it's going to be tough for England to turn the result in their favour. "Yeah pretty pleased obviously, it's been a good few weeks. It was pretty tough last night, they hit their straps consistently very well, and there were some tough periods, like we know there is in Test cricket. You have to try and work through them.

"It was a tricky period last night and we said we need to shift a bit of the momentum back on them this morning, and that's what we were trying to do. Last night was just purely survival. The positive mentality, you've got to able to shift up and down haven't you? To be in a positive frame of mind, but at the same time remain calm and pick and choose your balls.

"This morning they bowled well, and it was a choice to try and shift it back to them. I'm just thinking 'ball', that's exactly what it is. It's just taking the simplicity of it, and flipping everything back to remain as free as you can. Hopefully that can continue for a little while.

"Absolutely it's going to be tough. We're well aware of that. We'd liked to have scored a few more to get a little bit closer to them. But at the same time, from the position we were in, we didn't do too bad to get where we are. If we nick a couple of them in the morning, and Stokes mentioned it at the toss, we'll have a chase and that's exactly what we'll be trying to do. We won't be shutting up shop, that's for sure."

Talking about his animated interaction with former India skipper Virat Kohli, Bairstow said: "We've played against each other for a solid 10 years now, so it's a bit of craic. We're fiercely competitive on the field and that's what it's about.

"We're playing Test cricket, we're two competitors, that's why we play the game and that's what brings the best out of us. You want to be out there, you want to do your best and you want to win. Whatever it takes, you want to get your team over the line. That's part and parcel of the game."