“Would be nice to meet some old friends…”: PBKS’ Bairstow ahead of SRH clash

Mullanpur (Punjab) [India], April 9 (ANI): Ahead of his side’s Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Punjab Kings (PBKS) batter Jonny Bairstow expressed excitement about playing against his old franchise and to meet some “old friends”.

SRH will be locking horns with PBKS at the Mullanpur Stadium on Tuesday. SRH are at the fifth spot in the points table with two wins and two losses. Punjab, who also have the same win-loss ratio and points as SRH, are placed sixth due to an inferior net run rate.

Speaking in a video by PBKS on X, Bairstow said that he has had some amazing memories with SRH, a franchise he represented from 2019 to 2021, his first three years in the IPL.

“I have got some amazing memories with SRH. It was a special time. It was my first time in the IPL. Playing against them is always an opportunity to do good,” said Bairstow.

“Times move on, you play for a new franchise, I will be putting my best foot forward for Punjab Kings. It would be nice to see some old friends, who are still around,” he added.

Bairstow played 28 matches for SRH, scoring 1,038 runs at an average of 41.52 and a strike rate of 142.19. He scored a century and seven fifties for the team, with the best score of 114. Bairstow also shared a destructive and highly popular opening partnership with Australian opener David Warner.

Bairstow joined Punjab in 2022. Since then, he has played 15 matches for the franchise, scoring 334 runs at an average of 22.27 and a strike rate of over 147. He has scored two half-centuries for the side, with the best score of 66.

Punjab is returning to their home stadium in Mullanpur after three away matches against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Bairstow is excited to come back home for the next four games against SRH, Rajasthan Royals (RR), Mumbai Indians (MI) and GT.

“We had our first game of the competition against Delhi Capitals at home and we won it. It would be nice to build on that. We had three away games. We have won two and lost two, so, its big four games for us coming ahead,” said Bairstow.

The English batter expects fans to turn out in large numbers for the matches and thanked them for their support.

“We had fantastic support during our first game against DC. They are just brilliant, turned out in numbers. We hope to see them in numbers again for the next four games. Your support means a lot to us. We will make sure we try our best for you guys,” concluded Bairstow.

In four games this season, Bairstow has scored 81 runs in four innings at an average of 20.25 and a strike rate of over 158. His best score is 42.

Punjab Kings Squad: Shikhar Dhawan(c), Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w), Harpreet Brar, Ashutosh Sharma, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Liam Livingstone, Rilee Rossouw, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Chris Woakes, Rishi Dhawan, Atharva Taide, Shivam Singh, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh

Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Nitish Reddy, Pat Cummins(c), Jaydev Unadkat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan, Travis Head, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal, Upendra Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh.