IPL 2020: I am happy with the way I am striking the ball, says Jonny Bairstow

XtraTime Web Desk: The misery continues for Kings XI Punjab. With the defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday, Punjab has now won only 1 in their 6 outings.

In the first innings, Warner and Bairstow hammered Punjab’s bowlers. David Warner scored 52 of 40 balls while the mighty Bairstow scored 97 of 55 balls. Kane Williamson played a cameo of 20 runs in 10 balls and Hyderabad were already having an advantage after first innings with 201 runs on board.

Kings XI Punjab had no answer whatsoever. Nicholas Pooran was the only batsmen who tried his level best and played some good shots but that’s that. None of Punjab’s player supported him. While Pooran scored 77 of 37 balls, others didn’t even contribute 12 runs. 8 of them scored in single digits. Punjab finished their innings on 132 runs and lost all their wickets and lost the match by 69 runs. Credit goes to the bowlers of Sunrisers. Even without Bhubaneswar Kumar, they did a remarkable job. Rashid Khan took 3 wickets and gave away just 12 runs in his 4 overs. Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan took 2 wickets each.

Jonny Bairstow was awarded with the Man of the Match award. Bairstow said, “Very pleased. The consistency is the key. The partnership at the top was the key tonight.”

Bairstow also threw some light on his partnership with Warner. “He’s a good fun, we know what a quality batter he is. I am happy with the way I am striking.”

Speaking about the conditions of Dubai, Bairstow said, “The temperature is different, the dimensions and pitches are different too. The guys held the nerve.”

Keeping to Rashid Khan is very tough in these conditions but Bairstow enjoys the challenge. “It’s great fun, tricky at times.”

The winning captain was very happy with the result. Warner said, “Enjoyed it, but was a little nervous when Nicholas was hitting them out with four overs to get in. I played with him in Bangladesh and when he’s hitting it clean, you always think hard.”

Warner is a big fan of Rashid Khan. He’s mentioned about Rashid’s performance a lot of times in his Twitter account. Now with the absence of Bhubaneswar Kumar, Rashid Khan will have a lot of pressure as he is expected to lead the bowling department. To which Warner said, “Rashid obviously gets shown a lot of respect, he’s a world class bowler and it’s nice to have him. Obviously it’s disappointing and sad for Bhuvi but having him out gives others opportunities and we did okay.”

Bairstow and Warner always faces one question and that’s how they communicate in the middle keeping in mind the Ashes rivalry. Warner is tired of this question and said, “I don’t know why people think there’s so much hatred between the two countries! It’s going well, at the moment I’m just giving him srike. Look we really enjoy batting together out there. We tried to take it to them and fortunately enough today we were able to get through the powerplay.”

Rashid Khan was asked to talk about his spell in the post match conference and he said, “That’s what happens when you have a big total, the batsman goes for you and takes risks. You’ve to bowl your best deliveries and that’s what I was doing.”

Hyderabad now lost two of their first team players because of their injury. On that note, Rashid said, “It’s a big loss for us – Marsh and Bhuvi – right at the start of the tournament, but we have youngsters who are taking the responsibility. We have a best combination of the bowling in the last 4-5 games and the guys are doing the job.”

The losing captain explained where his team went wrong. KL Rahul said, “When we lose wickets in the powerplay, it’s gonna be tough, especially when we’re playing only six batters.”

Mayank Agarwal is having a great IPL but today because of some miscommunication with KL was run-out. The captain said, “Getting Mayank run-out wasn’t the ideal start, it was a disaster. It was also one of those days when everything we hit in the air went to the fielders.”

The captain is happy with the bowling today even after they leaked 15-20 runs extra. KL said, “The last five games we struggled with our death bowling, but that was a positive today. The boys showed courage and pulled things bat, you expect them to score 230-plus after that start.”

Rahul also appreciated Pooran’s efforts in the middle and said, “Pooran is just so good to watch and he’s batting really well. Did the same thing every time he got a chance last year as well. One more thing for us to stay positive about, we know that Nicky will come good. Bishnoi’s shown a lot of heart, he’s not been afraid whether it’s the powerplay or at the back end. He’s enjoyed those occasions.”

Towards the end the conversation, KL said, “All our players are professionals and they understand their problems, as a captain you just put an arm around the shoulder. Everybody in this squad is talented. Sometimes it doesn’t come off and you’ve got to be patient with them.”