C Jordan stats: Why is Jonny Bairstow not playing today’s IPL 2022 match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings?

Why Jonny Bairstow not playing today: Punjab Kings have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI for this match.

During the 11th match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings at the Brabourne Stadium, Chennai Super Kings captain Ravindra Jadeja has won the toss and chose to bowl.

“Ha ha ha! We are bowling. We try to keep things simple, we are an experienced team so they know what to do when we are under the pump. We back each and every player,” Jadeja told Star Sports at the toss expressing happiness as chasing teams have dominated this season thus far.

In what is the first instance of Super Kings losing both the first two IPL league matches, Jadeja confirmed a change in the form of England fast bowler Chris Jordan making his debut in place of uncapped Indian fast bowler Tushar Deshpande.

Slide to your unlock your newest 🦁 in 💛!#CSKvPBKS #Yellove #WhistlePodu 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/6WJCjA0TDi

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 3, 2022

Jordan, 33, has played for Royal Challengers Bangalore (2016), Sunrisers Hyderabad (2017-18) and Punjab Kings (2020-21) in the past. In his 25-match IPL career, Jordan has picked 25 wickets at an average of 27.92, an economy rate of 9.12 and a strike rate of 18.36.

Why is Jonny Bairstow not playing vs Chennai Super Kings today?

Punjab, who suffered a major loss against Kolkata Knight Riders after winning their tournament opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore, would be looking to return to winning ways at the Cricket Club of India tonight.

ALSO READ: Brabourne Stadium IPL 2022 schedule

“Looks like a good surface for batting. So we want to put runs on the board and let that pressure play and defend the total. We haven’t spoken much about the last game. We are going to have off days. We just spoke about it for a few minutes and we are looking forward to today’s game,” Punjab Kings captain Mayank Agarwal told Star Sports at the toss.

Readers must note that Kings have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI by bringing a couple of debutants in wicket-keeper batter Jitesh Sharma and fast bowler Vaibhav Arora for all-rounders Raj Bawa and Harpreet Brar. While Bawa failed to get going in his previous two outings, Brar has been benched to play an extra fast bowler in a potential attempt to minimize the “dew factor”.

Having said that, the development means that PBKS will be once again without England wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow. With Agarwal not being asked about the same, it seems that Kings don’t want to make desperate changes by providing more chances to their overseas players.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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