England back under-fire Root, Bairstow to keep India series alive

England are blocking out all external noise to help Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow hit form and keep the series alive against India in the IND vs ENG 4th TestAfter England slumped to their secondworst defeat since 1934 in terms of runs in the third Test Ben Stokes side are 21 down and must win or draw to avoid losing the series with a game to spare Englands attacking Bazball brand of cricket came under fire after the dismal 434run Rajkot defeat with the lack of runs for Root and Bairstow highlighted Bairstow whose rapid scoring in the middle order has been a key to Englands attacking play under Stokes has 102 runs from six innings with a highest of 37 Im not blind but hes done so well for us and hes had such an impactful career England coach Brendon McCullum said of Bairstow who will win his 99th cap in the IND vs ENG 4th TestWeve got to keep on giving him confidence and block out a lot of the external noise and keep him really present and focused on what hes trying to achieve and Im sure Jonny will come good Roots reverse scoop dismissal off Jasprit Bumrah on the third morning triggered a collapse from a strong position at 2242 to 319 all out handing India a crucial 126run firstinnings leadAlso ReadInform Jaiswal breaks into top20 Jadeja climbs up the ladder in Test RankingsRoot who has scored 11493 runs in 138 Tests with 30 centuries made just seven runs as Englands imploded to 122 all out in the second innings and never remotely threatened their 557 victory target Its Joe Root crikey said McCullum as he batted away criticism of the former captains lean spell I mean seriously The law of averages suggests hell fill his boots in the next twoEngland have won 14 out of 21 Tests since Stokes and McCullum took the reins in 2022 But since winning the first Test in Hyderabad Stokes has now lost backtoback Tests for only the second time as captain Australia won at Edgbaston and Lords in the Ashes last year but on that occasion England fought back to draw the series 22 Well turn the page and go quidsin again trying to put India under pressure said a defiant McCullum Hopefully in seven or eight days well be talking about how exciting it is to be heading into a decider Stokes who said he would play purely as a batsman in this series after recovering from knee surgery has hinted he could bowl in the final two Tests if needed to add balance to Englands attack Im not saying yes Im not saying no Stokes told reporters in Rajkot I managed to bowl at 100 percent in one of the warmup days here which made me feel pretty good Rohit Sharmas India will rest pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah the only seamer on either side to play in all three Tests so far as India look to seal the series but should otherwise have an unchanged side Batsman KL Rahul will miss his third straight Test due an injury he picked in the opener Batting great Virat Kohli has sat out the entire series and announced the birth of his second child on Tuesday Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal 22 has dominated the series batting with two double centuries and 545 runs Englands Ben Duckett is next best on 288 Sarfaraz Khan made 62 and 68 not out in an impressive debut and was part of a destructive 172run stand with Jaiswal in Indias second innings Jaiswal needs 139 in his next innings to become the fourthquickest batsman in history to 1000 Test runs and the fastest in 75 yearsWith agency inputs