Watch: Jonny Bairstow slammed five consecutive boundaries off Anukul Roy in the IPL today (April 26), before a direct hit from Sunil Narine brought an end to Prabhsimran Singh’s innings off the final ball of the over.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
KKR put on another massive score at Eden Gardens against Punjab Kings. Narine and Phil Salt shared another huge stand, hitting 71 off 32 and 75 off 37 balls respectively to set a mammoth platform. Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell and Shreyas Iyer also played explosive cameos to set PBKS 262 to get.
Back in the XI after he was dropped following Punjab’s game against Rajasthan Royals, and for the two subsequent games since, Bairstow came out with a point to prove. Prabhsimran took up the boundary-hitting mantle for the first couple of overs, hitting two sixes each off Harshit Rana and Dushmantha Chameera in the second and third overs of the innings. On strike to Roy for the fourth over, Bairstow opened up his boundary account with a couple of fours to take him to 11 off eight.
It was off Roy’s following over that Bairstow cut loose, however. He started with a four off the first ball, which ran down to the fine-leg boundary off a thick inside edge attempting the slog sweep. The second was a massive 97 metre six, clubbed over mid wicket and several rows back into the Eden Gardens crowd. He followed that with back-to-back fours, the first one-handed over cover stepping away from the ball, and the second driven through mid wicket off a full delivery. With two balls left in the over, Bairstow launched another six, high over long on this time, off Roy’s fifth ball. The first five balls of the over yielded 24 balls.
Bairstow couldn’t complete the set of six boundaries off the final ball, however. He got another thick outside edge, down to the fielder at short fine leg this time, with Narine gathering the ball quickly and throwing it in. The batters had tried to cross for the single, but Narine’s bullet arm demolished the striker’s stumps with Prabhsimran short of his ground. He had to go back to the pavillion for a blistering 54 off 20 balls.
Bairstow, though, went on to score an unbeaten hundred as Punjab recorded the highest successful chase in the history of T20 cricket. A roaring return to form for the Englishman was at the heart of the rec0rd-breaking feat.
