Great opportunity to play at different grounds ahead of the T20 World Cup: Jonny Bairstow on IPL 2021

With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in India later this year, England batsman Jonny Bairstow said in a recent press conference that IPL 2021 could provide a great opportunity to get used to the conditions. He also went on to add that it will be interesting to see how teams approach their bowling in the IPL in these conditions.

“I think it will be a great opportunity to play at the different grounds that we could potentially be playing at during the World Cup. Also, we need to see how different teams will go about bowling in those conditions," Bairstow said.

“Naturally with the dimensions of the grounds and also the nature of the wickets, it varies how attacks go about defending totals and also, how batsmen go about setting them. So, yeah it will be an interesting competition,” Bairstow added.

The 31-year-old has been a part of the IPL for a couple of seasons now, representing Sunrisers Hyderabad in both those editions. The England batsman had an outstanding debut season in which he amassed 445 runs, that also included a century.

Bairstow formed a lethal opening partnership with Australia’s David Warner during the tournament. He went on to add another 345 in the most recent season of the IPL held in the United Arab Emirates.

"There's nothing that can be taken for granted" - Jonny Bairstow on the IPL

Sunrisers Hyderabad will begin their IPL season with a match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai on April 11. When Bairstow was asked whether spending time in India ahead of the IPL gives him an added advantage during the tournament, he replied that playing in Ahmedabad was a new experience. Even though the Sunrisers will play most of their games in Chennai, he’s hopeful about acclimatizing quickly.

“Obviously, playing over here in Ahmedabad, it was a new ground and I think there was a lot of learning, but the games that we’ve got are going to be in Chennai, so completely different conditions again. However, the acclimatization in India, whether it would be to the conditions or the weather or in general, will hopefully help," he said.

“There’s nothing here that can be taken for granted. We know the quality of the competition and the quality of the opposition. That’s the exciting part of it, to be a part of the IPL,” Bairstow continued.

The Englishman concluded by saying that doing well in the IPL could put several players in a good frame of mind ahead of the T20 World Cup later this year.