England opener Jonny Bairstow has hit back at Sunil Gavaskar for questioning his intent in Test cricket, saying the Indian legend is more than welcome to give him a call or drop a text and discuss about his 'will' to play the longer format.
Bairstow had scores of 0, 0, 0 and 28 in the four innings that he played in England's 1-3 Test series defeat against India, prompting Gavaskar to comment that he looked "uninterested".
"Yeah, he's more than welcome to give me a ring and ask me about my will to do well in Test cricket and my enjoyment in Test cricket," Bairstow said in response to Gavaskar's comments.
The 31-year-old smashed a 112-ball 124 in the second one-dayer as England overhauled India's 337-run target to canter home with 39 balls to spare.
Following Bairstow's dismissal off Ravichandran Ashwin in the second innings of the final Test in Ahmedabad, Gavaskar had commentated that the batsman looked "uninterested" at the crease.
"You have not scored a run, and just come in and pushed at it, as if there was no fielder at backward short leg. It looked to me as if it was the sort of a person uninterested,"
"What's he trying to do? First ball, he should be looking to play a soft defensive shot. There is a fielder there at backward short leg. Uninterested," Gavaskar had said on commentary.
Bairstow, however, said he has not heard what the Indian legend had said about him.
"First of all, I hadn't heard what he said. Secondly, I'm interested in knowing how an opinion can be made especially when there has been no correspondence or communication between him (Gavaskar) and me...
"As I said, my phone is on and if he just wants to give me a call or a message, he can feel free to do so," he said.
Bairstow has scored 4197 runs at an average of 34.12 in 74 Tests, while amassing 3425 runs, which includes 11 centuries.
Angela Rayner
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