With all eyes on England's World Cup squad selection, Jonny Bairstow chose to live in the moment, as the wicket-keeper batsman ended his Indian Premier League (IPL) stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Wednesday, 24th April, and now he is looking forward to spending some home time before involving into the hectic home summer including World Cup 2019.
Bairstow had enjoyed a great time with SRH in the ongoing IPL 2019 having accumulated 445 runs in 10 IPL 2019 games, including a mighty 52-ball century against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and he is now ready to get it into the upcoming exciting summer after his successful IPL stint.
While feeling World Cup 2019 fever all around, Bairstow is hoping that the entire English squad would stay fit and be involved in the upcoming prestigious 50-over event at home.
Bairstow told ESPNCricinfo, “Looking forward to getting back home. It will be nice to spend a bit of time at home. Been on the road for quite a while now. It's an exciting summer of cricket ahead. Everyone's talking about the World Cup, everyone's talking about the selections that have been coming out. Hopefully, everyone can stay fit and be involved.”
With his thriving IPL 2019 stint with SRH, Bairstow gained a lot of confidence to play spin, and he has now a better idea how to tackle sub-continental teams in the tournament.
The 29-year-old continued, “You've got Afghanistan that'll probably bowl 30-40 overs of spin. And you don't know in England – it's not like in India, where if you see a pitch is dry, then it's definitely going to turn. Sometimes it can be a bit softer in England and a bit tacky, so it can turn as well. If they can potentially limit the team to a score, then you've people like [Mohammad] Shahzad go and whack it.”
Meanwhile, the right-hander has reiterated the fact that English conditions would be unpredictable during the World Cup 2019, adding: “We don't know what conditions, we don't know what weather England's going to have in store for us. Sometimes it can be overcast, sometimes it can be nice and sunny. The pitch can change.”
While England has bee touted as red-hot favorites for the maiden World Cup title at home this time, but the wicket-keeper batsman said their last ODI show against West Indies wasn’t up to the mark that has to be at the top, hoping for a better show from his side at the mega ICC event, starting from 30 May.
He explained, “Leading into the World Cup, and leading into the latter end of this [IPL] tournament, you go about the games as if you've got to win every game because you want to get into that top four.”
Bairstow signed off by saying, “We haven't necessarily played our best cricket in a few of the games, which has meant that we've got to win some games in this back end. Leading in, it's great to play in high-pressure environments in front of big crowds.”
Noteworthy, England will play limited-overs series against Pakistan and one-off T20I against Ireland before beginning their World Cup campaign against South Africa on 30 May.
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
