Punjab Kings (PBKS) batter Jonny Bairstow on Friday bettered his own record of fastest fifty in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Batting against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Mumbai, the English cricketer smashed a 21-ball half-century to reach this feat. Prior to this innings, he had three 28-ball fifties; one score in 2022 and the other two in 2019.
As PBKS desperately need a win to stay afloat in the playoff race, they made a massive change in the batting order. Bairstow was promoted up in the batter order in the crucial game against RCB while skipper Mayank Agarwal, who had been opening the innings in previous games, was seen getting shifted to the middle order. The move worked as the overseas batter hammered 7 maximums and 4 boundaries during his stay at the crease. (IPL 2022 RCB vs PBKS Live Cricket Score)
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After getting his fastest fifty, Bairstow added 16 runs more to his individual score before falling prey to Shahbaz Ahmed in the 10th over. He featured in a 60-run opening stand with partner Shikhar Dhawan. He may have departed pretty early in the innings but played his part well to put his team in a comfortable spot.
His blistering knock against the RCB also set the social media ablaze. Reactions began to pour in as Bairstow reached the remarkable milestone. Here’s how the netizens reacted.
Jonny Bairstow teeing off >>>>>>>>>>>>>
— Heather Knight’s Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) May 13, 2022
Make Jonny Bairstow play with the straighter bat. Fullish ball isn’t a bad option
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) May 13, 2022
Jonny Bairstow exhibiting his class tonight, what a start.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 13, 2022
Team jersey doesn’t matter for Jonny bairstow,he will see RCB , he will smash! pic.twitter.com/ysXpeUB61C
— Akshat (@AkshatOM10) May 13, 2022
How’s the ?
Really high #SherSquad!Jonny Bairstow has raced to 34 off just 12 balls! #SaddaPunjab #IPL2022 #PunjabKings #RCBvPBKS #ਸਾਡਾਪੰਜਾਬ pic.twitter.com/wh6X7MrGxH
— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) May 13, 2022
Bairstow boom #jonnybairstow on fire make 66 in just 29 balls .
That’s a master class inning by Jonny budyyyyy.Big sixes and cracking inning.#aravchoudhary #SaddaPunjab #rcb #IPL #IPL2022
— Arav Choudhary (@iaravchoudhary) May 13, 2022
Dial B for Bairstow Blitz! ⚡️ ⚡️@jbairstow21 cut loose & took on Josh Hazlewood in style. #TATAIPL | #RCBvPBKS | @PunjabKingsIPL
Watch https://t.co/xZjhswODZc
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 13, 2022
Earlier, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bowl first against Punjab Kings. Punjab Kings skipper Mayank Agarwal said he was okay with batting first as he wanted to set a target and put pressure on the opposition.
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