Jonny Bairstow’s England Test heroics inspired by spell in IPL

Yorkshireman Bairstow blitzed a 77-ball century to lead a rousing day-five chase in the second Test against New Zealand on Tueaday – the second fastest ever by an English player – and finished with a brilliant 136.

He struck seven sixes and 14 fours as he and captain Ben Stokes chased down a stiff target of 299 in just 50 overs.

Bairstow headed into the series fresh from a stint of Twenty20 hitting at the IPL, where he played for Punjab Kings, rather than lining up for Yorkshire at the start of the county season.

The 32-year-old realises that skipping the domestic first-class structure in favour of the franchise circuit is not a move that everyone agrees with, but has suggested his experiences in India were key to his heroics in Nottingham.

“There was a lot of people that were saying I should not be at the IPL and I should be playing county cricket,” he said after his game-changing efforts.

“Yes, people say it would be fantastic if you had four games of red-ball cricket under your belt (before a Test series) but, unfortunately, that doesn’t happen with the current scheduling of everything around the world.

“Decisions are decisions and if I could say what I wanted to then... never mind.

“But there are elements to it where you are playing against the best in the world at the IPL.

“Being able to have those gears, to be able to go and switch them up, switch them down, is important.

“We’re very fortunate to be able to play in some of the best competitions against the best players in the world. So when it comes to pressure situations, the more you’re able to put yourself under those pressure situations, the better, because you’ve gone through them in the past.

“Whether that be in the IPL, whether that be in one-day cricket, whether that be in red-ball cricket previously, you are able to call upon evenings like that.”