Michael Vaughan's blunt take on Jonny Bairstow's poor form, feels he can't escape getting dropped after India series

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has expressed his concerns over Jonny Bairstow's Test cricket future after the fifth Test match against India in Dharamsala. Bairstow, who is going through a lean patch, is all set to play his 100th Test match in Dharamsala. The veteran batter has failed to make an impact with the bat in the ongoing series and scored just 170 runs in 4 Tests, he has also failed to hit a fifty-plus score in the last eight innings.

The 34-year-old has struggled miserably against the Indian spinners as England's bazball approach also didn't work for him in the red-ball cricket.

Vaughan said that Bairstow deserves to play his 100th Test but admitted that his place in the red-ball squad will be in jeopardy after the India series.

"Jonny Bairstow plays his 100th Test in Dharamsala and I am delighted about that. It’s a great triumph of resilience and, even in terms of sentiment, I believe that if you get to 99 caps you deserve the moment of your 100th. However, you can’t escape that he could miss out on his 101st. He hasn’t played well enough across the 10 Tests he’s been back in the side, especially in India," Vaughan wrote in his column for the Telegraph.

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The English team might make some big changes in their red-ball team after losing the Test series to India as they are placed at the eighth spot on the WTC 2023-25 points table.

The former England captain was also critical of Ben Foakes' batting ability and said despite doing great work behind the stumps, he has failed to make an impact with the bat.

"I also look at the ‘keeper, Ben Foakes. He has kept magnificently in India, but I get the sense that he’s not in the inner circle with this setup and that his batting still doesn’t suit them," he wrote.

The wicketkeeper batter has not been able to convert starts into big scores and hit just 173 runs in the series thus far.

"The last Test was a good example: he is great in partnership with a batsman, but struggles kicking on with the tail. Once again, his batting might not be enough however good his keeping is," Vaughan added.