"IPL Helped In Raising My Game", Says England Century-Maker Jonny Bairstow

Jonny Bairstow, who scored a match-winning hundred against Pakistan in Bristol on Tuesday, said that playing alongside the likes of Australia's David Warner in the Indian Premier League (IPL) had helped take his game to new heights. Bairstow's blistering 128 off 93 balls helped World Cup hosts England to a six-wicket win in the third one-day international (ODI) as they went 2-0 up in a five-match series with two to play. "You're able to learn different things from different coaches and different players," said Bairstow.

The 29-year-old carried on his recent form from the IPL where he scored 445 runs in 10 games at an average of 55.62 for the SunRisers Hyderabad.

"It's just little things like game plans," Bairstow added.

"He (Warner) hits in completely different areas to potentially myself. I guess it's method more than anything else. But learning from them, as well as the guys here, that can only be a good thing playing under pressure with expectation."

Bairstow was furious after his seventh ODI hundred ended when he played on to Junaid Khan, with the batsman hitting out at his stumps. 

"I was cross because you want to see that through," Bairstow explained after England had made light of a target of 359 with their second-highest successful ODI run chase to win with 31 balls to spare.

"You want to be going on and getting 160 or 170, and potentially 200 and seeing your team through.

"That's where we're at as a group of players at the moment, having competition to go and get the 150s and 160s and beyond.

"We are backing ourselves and competition is healthy all the way through. That's a good place to be and I was cross about it," Bairstow concluded.

(With AFP Inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

England Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Sunrisers Hyderabad Jonny Bairstow IPL 2019 Cricket