Jonny Bairstow Credits IPL & David Warner For Raising His Game

Continuing his red-hot form with the bat, England star Jonny Bairstow smashed a stunning century in the third ODI against Pakistan. Following the game, the wicketkeeper-batsman said that batting alongside Australian David Warner in the recently-concluded IPL has taken his game to new heights. The England star called Warner an “excellent” teammate after a successful season in IPL where both the Ashes rivals developed a strong friendship.

Bairstow’s blazing ton helped England made a mockery of whopping 359-run target. The hosts thrashed Pakistan by six wickets to go two nil up in the five-match series.Pakistan rode on Imam-ul-Haq‘s career-best 151 to post a daunting total of 358 for 8. However, the score turned out to be too less in the end as England chased it down inside 45 overs.

Bairstow led the charge with the bat. The right-hander smashed 128 from 93 balls after sharing a 159-run first wicket stand with Jason Roy. It was England’s second highest successful chase in ODIs as they showed they are all ready for the upcoming World Cup.

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“You’re able to learn different things from different coaches and different players,” said Bairstow of his time with Warner at the IPL,” said Bairstow.

“It’s just little things like game plans. He (Warner) hits in completely different areas to potentially myself. I guess it’s method more than anything else,” he added.

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Earlier this month also, Bairstow had hailed Warner. Bairstow had spoken about how Warner the teammate differed from the one with whom he clashed during the the 2017-18 Ashes series.

“He has had a lot of things that have gone on over the last 18 months and the IPL was only his second competition back,” Bairstow told the Telegraph UK.

“I think that experience (ball-tampering) can only change you as a person. He was a very good teammate, he passed on a lot of knowledge about local bowlers, game-plans, pitches, everything. He was excellent.

“We can say hello now. We did not have a connection before, but now we’ve played together and done well together and had a good partnership it will make a difference. We spent five weeks together having dinner and coffees. It changes things but it will still be England versus Australia,” added Bairstow.

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Well, it will be interesting to see how Warner and Bairstow treat each other in the coming days as Australia gear up for a busy summer in England. Australia will be looking to defend their World Cup and Ashes titles this year.