“PBKS are a more settled lineup with Bairstow at the top” - Lisa Sthalekar

Former Australian cricketer Lisa Sthalekar reckons that Punjab Kings (PBKS)' batting lineup in IPL 2022 looks a lot more settled with Jonny Bairstow opening the innings. She also praised franchise captain Mayank Agarwal for sacrificing his opening spot for the team’s sake.

Bairstow batted in the middle order in his first few games of the season for Punjab before moving to the top of the order. He has repaid the IPL team’s faith by striking half-centuries in the last two games. He followed up his 56 off 40 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) with a scintillating 66 off 29 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

PBKS will have high hopes from the England dasher when they take on Delhi Capitals (DC) in a literal do-or-die clash at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Monday. Sharing her thoughts on Punjab’s decision to move Bairstow up the order, Sthalekar described it as the right decision. She told Cricbuzz:

“Jonny Bairstow’s numbers opening the batting in the IPL are outstanding. The first time he did it, it didn’t work necessarily but he’s too much of a class player and we saw that at Brabourne Stadium against RCB. He went big. You feel that PBKS are a more settled line-up with Bairstow at the top.”

Praising PBKS captain Agarwal for making the switch to the middle order, she added:

“Agarwal is happy to go in based on the situation. That’s what you need. You need a guy to understand that he’s not firing."

The Punjab captain has had a below-par IPL 2022 campaign. In 11 games, Agarwal has scored 195 runs at an average of 19.50 and a strike rate of 126.62.

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“I can’t see them making any changes” - Shaun Pollock on PBKS’ playing XI for DC clash

Chipping in with his views on Punjab, former South African captain Shaun Pollock opined that the franchise should stick to the same playing XI against Delhi. Saying that a change at this stage could be fraught with risk, he said:

“Jonny’s firing, (Liam) Livingstone’s found some good form. I can’t see them making any changes. At this stage, it’s very difficult to go into the reserves because we don’t know what form they have got. The team that got you into this situation, trust the same one to get you out of it and over the line to qualification.”

Punjab and Delhi both have 12 points apiece after 12 games. The loser of Monday’s clash will be all but knocked out of IPL 2022 playoff contention.