Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have, time and again, surprised many with their smart shopping in the auctions and did the same in the last one in December 2018. In this regard, SRH were clever in buying England wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow.
Revealing the strategy behind Bairstow’s inclusion, head coach Tom Moody told on the eve of SRH’s opener, “Obviously, picking Johnny Bairstow up in the auction was an important strategy for us because we wanted an overseas player who could give us the option to keep wickets. And having an impact player like Johnny Bairstow, who is in the similar mould as of Jos Buttler, just gives us that option and flexibility with our overseas combinations to have that keeping role nailed down and have an impact player at the same time.”
Bairstow has been in solid form for England since 2018. His strike rate in T20Is stands at 130.20 with 3 half-centuries. He will be eager to replicate the same in SRH jersey in his maiden IPL season. The Englishman has a like-for-like replacement as well in form of New Zealand opener Martin Guptill in case he succumbs to the pressure of the tournament. In this case, SRH can handover wicketkeeping responsibility to Wriddhiman Saha or Shreevats Goswami.
SRH finished as runners-up in the last edition of the IPL. They will like to go the distance this time around as well and lift their second title.
