What Jonny Bairstow played is like playing Brian Lara’s cricket on cheat mode: Alastair Cook

Jonny Bairstow was the star of the show on the final day of the second Test match between England and New Zealand when he racked up 136 runs off 92 deliveries to take his team towards a series win. Due to the same, the 32-year-old is amid a lot of praises from former England skipper Sir Alastair Cook who compared Bairstow’s knock with the legendary Brain Lara’s show on ‘cheat day’.

Bairstow stepped in to bat at a very crucial stage as the hosts had lost their top-order batters as Zak Crawley was dismissed for a duck, and the centurions from the first innings- Ollie Pope and Joe Root also crumbled early. But Bairstow changed the face of the game with his blistering knock as he notched up the second-fastest century by any English batter, achieving the feat in just 77 balls.

“I’m probably the least qualified to comment on what’s just happened in the last hour. So, I’m going to sum it up in one sentence. What Jonny Bairstow has just played is like playing Brian Lara’s Cricket on cheat mode,” said Cook while speaking on commentary for BBC Test Match Special.

Jonny Bairstow’s century and Ben Stokes’ unbeaten half-century helped England win the 2nd Test

Bairstow took just one delivery extra to unlock the achievement, as the record is held by former English batter Gilbert Jessop who scored a hundred in just 76 balls, the fastest (Tests) in the history of English cricket. England had to chase 299 runs on the final day after they managed to dish out the New Zealand batters at the beginning of the day’s play. Bairstow started off slow and brought up his half-century off 51-deliveries, but he unleashed the beat within himself later and managed to bag a century within the next 26 balls.

Bairstow was joined by skipper Ben Stokes on the field as the two wreaked havoc. The duo added a whopping 179 runs for the fifth-wicket partnership to cut the chase short and helped their side carry the winning momentum from the first Test. While Bairstow was later taken down by Trent Boult, Stokes remained unbeaten throughout the innings and amassed a 70-ball 75* to take his team over the line, thereby taking an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series.