Punjab Kings (PBKS) opener Jonny Bairstow continued his horrid run of form with the bat in the ongoing IPL 2024 clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on April 9.
Coming off a disappointing Test series against India ahead of IPL 2024, Bairstow has looked shaky since the season opener. He came into the SRH game averaging just over 20 in the first four outings.
In a match where seeing off the new-ball threat of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pat Cummins was paramount, the England wicket-keeper went for an ugly swipe across the line against the latter and was castled for a three-ball duck.
His dismissal in the second over of PBKS' run-chase of 183 was a massive setback, leading fans on X to question his place in the playing XI.
Here are some of the best reactions:
The trolls continued for Bairstow with one fan saying:
"Bairstow is horrible definitely shouldn't be opening at the world cup."
"Can't believe bairstow with a batting technique worst than unadkat had audicity to challenge shubman gill," another fan tweeted.
"Bairstow is a big big liability on Punjab it’s high time he should get dropped I don’t know on which quota he is playing if pujab didn’t drop him there tournament will be over soon," tweeted a fan.
"I think Bairstows career is close to over. Bairstow was preferred only because Brook pulled off from India tour," said a fan.
PBKS in trouble in their steep run-chase against SRH
In a battle of two teams with an identical record of two wins and as many losses, PBKS surrendered their early advantage to find themselves in disarray.
After winning the toss and asking SRH to bat first, the PBKS bowlers were on the money to reduce their opponents to 39/3 in five overs. However, they let the foot off the pedal and allowed youngster Nitish Reddy to score a game-changing 64 off 37 balls.
With other timely lower-order contributions, SRH clawed back into the contest and finished on a competitive 182/9 in 20 overs.
In reply, PBKS are stuttering at 91/5 in the 14th over, and will hope that Shashank Singh and Jitesh Sharma can take them home.
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