‘Some heavy lifting already’ – R Ashwin reacts hilariously as Jonny Bairstow carries out pitch invader

A protester invaded the pitch during the first session of the second Ashes 2023 Test between England and Australia at Lord’s in London. England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow lifted the protester and escorted him off the field after which Team India’s star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin came up with a hilarious tweet reacting to the incident.

After winning the toss in the second test, English skipper Ben Stokes decided to bowl first and handed over the ball to experienced pacer James Anderson who bowled the first over. Just when Stuart Broad came in to bowl the second over, the game was interrupted as a protester invaded the pitch.

Jonny Bairstow lifts protester on his shoulder

A pair of protestors stormed the field, halting the game right after the first over was bowled by Anderson. They tossed orange power paint onto the ground and the commentators guessed that they were part of the ‘Just Stop Oil’ movement as they have carried out these protests on various other occasions in the country.

When the security guards didn’t get success in escorting back the protesters, England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow took the matter in his control and lifted one of the invaders on his shoulder. As Bairstow made sure to bring him off the field, the security personnel kept running after him.

The wicketkeeper-batter got some paint on his kit and had to rush back to the dressing room to change them which further delayed the proceedings. Meanwhile, the ground staff at Lord’s came into action and cleaned up the mess created by the invaders as the game was resumed in a while.

Ravichandran Ashwin comes up with an amusing tweet on Jonny Bairstow

Team India’s off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was pretty amused with the hilarious incident. “Good start to the 2nd test. Bairstow has done some heavy lifting already,” Ashwin tweeted and added a couple of laugh emojis. He also shared the video in which Jonny Bairstow could be seen lifting the protester.

After the game resumed, Australia got off to a good start courtesy of their opening batters David Warner and Usman Khawaja. Australia were placed at a score of 73-0 after the end of 23 overs.

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England pacer Josh Tongue provided them the first success with the ball as he dismissed Usman Khawaja with a nipping-back delivery. The Australian opener scored 17 runs after facing 70 deliveries while Warner remained unbeaten after scoring 53 runs at the end of the first session.