Jonny Bairstow on the impact of Brendon McCullum and Virat Kohli's luge

England beat l a New Zealand 3-0 and won their Test rearrangement against India to secure a 2-2 draw.

Their four successive wins came playing aggressive cricket under new head coach Brendon McCullum.

"That's the freedom we have now," Bairstow told the Tailenders podcast.

"We are not in hotel rooms, bubbles, having to do Covid tests every day and we can do normal things like go to the store, have a beer, see your friends and family.

"All of those things stack together and obviously the excitement of working with Baz [McCullum] and the clarity he gave everyone."

Bairstow missed the start of this summer's county season to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but was reassured that it wouldn't would not affect his spot on the test team following a phone call from McCullum.

Since he came back to test cricket, he has scores of 1, 16, 8, 136, 162, 71*, 106 and 114*.

"Before I played in New Zealand, there was talk of going to the IPL and not playing county cricket, but Baz phoned me, told me said I beat five in tests, to understand and crack,” Bairstow said.

< p class="" data-reactid=".1xz6antx4h4.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-10">" Baz also talked to me a bit about imposing myself on the game - nothing technical. This can be tricky in red ball cricket because you don't want to look like you're hanging out.

"I had two nets before the first game, so finding the balance was interesting. I played a ball to Lord's [scoring one and 16] which didn't go too well, then I found better balance at Trent Bridge [scoring 136]."

On the Tailenders Podcast, which is co-hosted by Bairstow's England teammate James Anderson, it has also been revealed how the right-hander was inspired for his first-leg century against India after being trailed by Virat Kohli.

"Jonny wasn't 80 and Virat attacked him a lot and dragged him a lot," Anderson said.

"I don't know s did you see the difference in strike rate? His strike rate was around 20 before Vira t started dragging him and around 150 after.

" His first words in the locker room at lunch were: 'When will they learn to shut up?'

"S 'there's someone you don't want to rub the wrong way, it's Jonny Bairstow.'

Bazball a 'dumb phrase' - McCullum

England's attacking approach has been dubbed 'Bazball', but McCullum said it was a "dumb" phrase.

"I don't really know that silly term people are throwing out there," he told SEN Radio.

"Because there's actually a lot of thought going into how guys craft their performances and when they put thepressure on bowlers and which bowlers they put pressure on.

"There is...