IPL 2019: 3 reasons why Warner and Bairstow have excelled this season

Over the years, one of the most important recipes for any cricket team to be successful, irrespective of the format, has been the opening partnership with the bat. We often hear the cliche “well begun is half done” and that holds very true for teams to have more winning percentage.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have had a different opening combination from last year and have taken this season by storm with incredible power and consistency up until now. The irony of it all has been the combination of an Australian and an Englishman for the Orange Army.

David Warner and Jonny Bairstow have recorded 4 hundred-run partnerships at the top of the order and when that happens in a T20 game, the chances of losing a game almost becomes impossible.

The Australian left-hander has been one of the pillars for SRH in IPL and has formed a great partnership with Shikhar Dhawan for the past few seasons. But the latter was not a part of SRH anymore and the management had to pick another effective opener at the auction and they went in with Englishman, Jonny Bairstow, who hadn't played in IPL until this season.

So what has made this partnership work for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2019? Here are the three key reasons:

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#1 Both complement each other

When both the openers are naturally aggressive stroke players, more often than not, one would like to outdo the other. But that hasn’t been the case with David Warner and Jonny Bairstow this season.

The Australian left-handed David Warner started off with a bang in the first couple of matches and that’s when Bairstow was playing the support role to perfection. Since the England wicket-keeper was new to IPL, he was taking his time to get settled to the tournament but still doing his role for the side.

As the tournament went on, Bairstow started to tee off right from the start and Warner decided to take the supporting role and did it without any fuss. Both switched their roles ever so comfortably even during the innings.

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#2 Running between the wickets

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If you are a youngster who’s learning the basics of running between the wickets, you should not look beyond this opening partnership of how they are doing it to perfection. These two have shown that its not only about fours and sixes albeit in the shortest form of the game.

The fact that both run incredibly fast between the wickets has also helped this partnership blossom. When both Warner and Bairstow got hundreds in one game against RCB at home, they ran more than 10 two’s in that sweltering heat (day game) along with smashing fours and sixes. It talks a lot about their fitness and more importantly match awareness.

Most successful teams know how to make use of the home conditions and Sunrisers openers have done just that in Hyderabad. One of the bigger grounds in this IPL, Warner and Bairstow have made use of that and have converted the ones into two’s on many occasions that have caught the opposition fielders unawares.

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#3 Point to prove

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IPL, being one of the biggest T20 leagues in the world, makes everyone so eager to perform and in the past, many players have got national call ups because of doing well over here.

This is where both David Warner and Jonny Bairstow had a point to prove in this years IPL, for obviously different reasons. The former was coming back into the league after missing out last year due to his serving of ban and the latter is playing in his first IPL and wanted to prove that Englishman can do well in these conditions.

Both of them look extremely fit and focused to perform which has helped Sunrisers Hyderabad and have made the opposition bowlers and captains scratch their heads for ideas.

Even though both are leaving early because of their national duties, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow have given a lot of good memories for fans in India with aggressive strokeplay, great match awareness and their ability to adapt to different situations.