Jonny Bairstow to Leave IPL 2019 For England World Cup Camp After April 23

Sunrisers Hyderabad are all set to suffer a major setback just as the business phase of the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets underway. The Hyderabad-based outfit will see their in-form opener Jonny Bairstow flying out to England to join his national teammates for international duties. The England star himself confirmed that he will be leaving the IPL on April 23 to join England’s World Cup camp later this month.

The wicketkeeper-batsman will thus play just two more games for the Sunrisers with the final being the away game against the defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram stadium on April 23. Following that, he will bring an end to his IPL season for this year as he sets sights on the forthcoming ODI series against Ireland, Pakistan and eventually the all-important World Cup.

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All the England players playing in the ongoing IPL are likely to leave the league around the same time as Bairstow. Missing Bairstow will be a big blow for the Sunrisers. Playing his first season in the IPL, Bairstow has been an absolute revelation at the top of the order, proving himself as an apt replacement for Shikhar Dhawan. The right-handed batsman has formed a formidable partnership with David Warner at the top of the order. In fact, his partnership with Warner is one of the reasons behind Sunrisers winning 4 games this season so far.

He has so far scored 365 runs in 8 games so far at an average of 52.14, including a hundred and a fifty. Bairstow is currently placed fifth on the highest run-scorer’s list in IPL 2019.

“We get back after the Chennai game on April 23. Then we’ve got the World Cup camp. We then play Pakistan in the five-ODI series and then we’ve got two warm-up matches in which we play Afghanistan and Australia. And then we go into the World Cup.

“It’s a lot of cricket leading into the World Cup. And then we’ve got 5 Ashes Tests after that,” Jonny Bairstow told reporters ahead of the home game against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 21.

After the World Cup camp, England will play a solitary ODI against Ireland on May 3 and then a limited-overs series against Pakistan, comprising one T20I and five ODIs. They will then play two warm-up matches against Australia and Afghanistan on May 25 and 27 before the start of the showpiece event on May 30. Bairstow is an integral part of England’s ODI team and is likely to feature extensively in the coming days.

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Meanwhile, Warner will also leave the IPL towards the end of April to join Australia’s World Cup camp. In Warner and Bairstow’s absence, Sunrisers will have a mountain to climb in order to make it to the playoffs.