During England 's stunning seven wicket win over India in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston, Jonny Bairstow was once again the star of the show with twin hundreds.
During his century in the first innings, Bairstow was involved in a heated exchange with Virat Kohli. And Bairstow's teammate James Anderson has revealed it was Kohli's sledging which inspired him to up the ante on his way to a hundred.
Speaking on his BBC 'Tailenders' podcast, Anderson said: "Jonny was 80 not out and Virat had been going at him and sledging him a lot. I don't know if you saw the strike-rate difference?
"His strike-rate was about 20 before Virat started sledging him and about 150 after. His first words back in the dressing room at lunch were: 'When will they learn to shut it?'
"If there's somebody you don't want to rub up the wrong way, it is Jonny Bairstow." When Bairstow was eventually dismissed for 106, it was Kohli who took the catch at first slip and blew him a mock kiss in celebration of the wicket.
However, Bairstow got the last laugh as his unbeaten 114 in the second innings helped guide England to victory and level the series. As a result, Bairstow has now scored four centuries this summer and is in the form of his life in a new-look England Test team.
And he has paid tribute to new England Test coach Brendon McCullum for the immediate impact he has had on the side, saying: "It's the freedom we have now. We're not in hotel rooms, bubbles, having to do Covid tests every day and we can do normal things like go to the shop, go for a beer, see your friends and family.
"All of those things accumulate together and obviously the excitement of working with Baz [McCullum] and the clarity he gave everyone. Before we played New Zealand, there was chat about going to the IPL and not playing county cricket but Baz phoned me, said I was batting five in the Tests, to get my head around it and crack on.
"Baz also spoke to me a bit about imposing myself on the game - nothing technical. That can be tricky in red-ball cricket because you don't want to look like you're slogging.
"I had two nets before the first game so finding the balance was interesting. I played a shot-a-ball at Lord's [scoring one and 16] which didn't go down too well and then found the balance better at Trent Bridge [scoring 136]."
