England as a national team has always been witnessed as the board to restrict their player’s time to play in the top-notch league of the Indian Premier League but the star of Trent Bridge, Bairstow decided to go another way.
Jonny Bairstow, who played a bizarre knock in the Trent Bridge and assisted the hosts to win their second win of this series has stated that IPL helps him to change “gears”.
Jonny Bairstow and team England had a target to chase before the last day ended and it was at that moment when Bairstow decided to step out and as the skipper recalls “Plant it out of the park”.
Jonny played a tremendous knock of 136 runs in just 92 balls and the strike rate of 147.83 makes him the Player of the Match and also one of the fastest ton knocked by him has been appreciated by the Englishmen.
Jonny stated that playing in the biggest competition such as IPL has benefited him to understand the game against the best which provides a great opportunity for the players.
“There was a lot of people that were saying I should not be at the IPL and I should be playing county cricket,” Bairstow said. “That’s part and parcel of the game. Decisions are decisions and if I could say what I wanted to then… But there are also elements to it where you are playing against the best in the world at the IPL. So being able to have those gears, to be able to go and switch them up, switch them down is important,” says Bairstow.
Yes, people say it would be fantastic if you had four games of red-ball cricket under your belt. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen in the current scheduling of everything around the world. And we’re very fortunate to be able to play in some of the best competitions against the best players in the world. So when it comes to pressure situations, the more and more you’re able to put yourself under those pressure situations, the better.
“Because it’s those situations that you’ve gone through in the past – whether that be in the IPL, whether that be in one-day cricket, whether that be in red-ball cricket previously that you’re able to call upon evenings like that. And they’re the bits that those opportunities and environments, whether they be for good or bad, [mean] you’re able to produce performances like we as a group have done this game, last game and hopefully going forward.
“But also I’m incredibly proud of how I went about that innings because it wasn’t just going from ball one, I was 12 off 28 balls [12 off 24] or whatever it was. It wasn’t just a case of let’s go gung-ho. It was right, pick your times, picks your moments and then try and change the game,” continued Bairstow.
