This week will be quite emotional as Bairstow makes his 100th Test appearance.

At the HPCA Cricket stadium in Dharamsala two days before the fifth and final Test of the series Jonny Bairstow posed for a few pictures in front of the snow-capped Himalayas. He would continue “I don’t think there’s a more picturesque ground in the world” but that wasn’t the real reason he was having his photo taken. On Thursday, Jonny Bairstow will join R Ashwin in the opposition as the player with 100 wickets.

“This week fill with a lot of emotion. Yes, in fact. Being an emotional guy, I take great pride in who I am. Thus, eventually prepare the Kleenex and tears,” the England batter jokingly said. “Playing 100 Tests is really important. Every young person who decides to pursue a career in professional cricket aspires to participate in 100 Test matches..”

Jonny Bairstow  relatives and family will be among the 5,000 England supporters in the stands for the Dharamsala match. “Having everyone here, friends and family, is wonderful. It’s a fantastic location to visit. Along the way, they’ve visited some pretty amazing locations. The presence of relatives and friends here is wonderful. It’s an amazing location. It is a unique opportunity for everyone who has traveled from the men at Yorkshire on the academy to Baz [McCullum] and the guys here, as some of them have never been to India before, according to Bairstow.

Bairstow stated that although he would have like to reach a century to commemorate the milestone. His goal was to accomplish what he had accomplished thus far in the series and, consequently, in his career. With results in the four Tests of 37 & 10, 25 & 26, 0 & 4, and 38 & 30, Bairstow has not had the best of tours thus far. The batter continued to believe that he had been “in the zone” the entire time.

“You give it your all, just like in any game. Whatever happens, I’ll be out there trying to have fun with the other ten guys while sucking on my gum and putting on a show. As we have over the entire series, we’ll be heading out there grinning no matter what,” Bairstow declared.

“I feel happy with the entire series. I simply haven’t gotten the runs I’ve desired due to a few nice balls and a few poor choices on his part. However, such is the norm in India and is permitted to occur. He continued, “I’ve been happy with my movement the entire trip; I’ve been in the zone.”

A moment of introspection and nostalgia was made possible by the occasion of a milestone. Bairstow mentioned Andrew Strauss’s last Test match, which took place in 2012 at Lord’s against South Africa. Despite losing, Strauss managed to score 95 and 54 in that match. He also thought back to his first-ever century in a Test match in 2016 with fondness. But he found it hard to ‘go beyond the summer of 2022’. In particular, he mentioned the home matches against New Zealand and India, where he scored 136 and then twin hundreds (106 & 114), respectively.

“You revisit some of the ones that people might not recall. Not necessarily landmarks, but the game at Lord’s, which we sadly lost, is arguably one of my best matches that we didn’t make it through. Being a part of Straussy’s final game was an amazing experience. It was an honor to play against such an illustrious South Africa team.

“For my family, myself, and everyone else, the 2016 Cape Town 100 was, in my opinion, yet another amazing occasion. The Test match versus India at Edgbaston is next, followed by the encounter at Trent Bridge against New Zealand. It is hard, in my opinion, to get past that summer. In my opinion, the way the team gelled and how everyone embraced a play style that the world was talking about made them very memorable Test matches.”

In an attempt to become the first visiting team to win two Tests in a series since Alastair Cook’s England in 2012. England will hope that the style of play that Bairstow is alluding to will empower them once more this series.