How often do you see an Australian and an Englishmen involved in a breathtaking partnership to take their team over the line? Well, this is a case that is possible in franchise cricket and a picture-perfect scene was created by David Warner and Jonny Bairstow in the IPL 2019 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
It was a league stage match between Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kane Williamson’s Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad which witnessed a run-fest. Recalling the marathon knock, David Warner stated that the opening partnership completely frustrated Virat Kohli.
Bairstow made his IPL debut in the 2019 season and it was the first instance when David Warner and Jonny Bairstow were opening the innings together. Recalling his brilliant partnership with the Englishmen, Warner stated while talking to Cricbuzz;
“It was really bizarre because me and Jonny, we’ve never played with each other or against each other. We didn’t really know each other off the field. But as soon as we had the first net session and the first hit out, it was almost like we knew each other’s game so well. The best thing about our combination, that I knew deep down, was how fast we are between wickets”
The partnership was taking away the match from RCB’s grasps which was definitely annoying Virat Kohli. The Aussie oper further added;
“We just knew that if we bat the way we did in the first six – like we normally do – and then once the field goes out, we can pinch the odd one or two. If we can rotate strike, it’s going to frustrate a lot of people. I look back at the RCB game, I think (there were) 21 or 22 twos (during the partnership). It was frustrating the crap out of Virat. When Virat went out to field at midwicket, we were running twos to him. The thing is, when you’ve got that instinct anyone can do that. When you’re batting so well with someone, and gel well, you can turn ones into twos quite easily.”
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