Jonny Bairstow not playing: The wicket-keeper batsman from Sunrisers Hyderabad hasn’t been included in their Playing XI tonight.
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During the 47th match of the ongoing 13th season of the Indian Premier League between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals in Dubai, Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer has won the toss and chose to bowl.
“We’ll bowl first. The wicket looks dry and the dew factor coming in later is a factor. That [the trends] definitely goes into our mind but we were constantly batting first in the early part of the tournament. But the wickets have become drier and that’s affected our plans.
“We want to end up in the top-two, and the boys are really motivated. After some bad performances, we sat together and talked about where we went wrong,” Iyer told Star Sports during the toss.
Being asked about the changes made to their Playing XI, Iyer confirmed that they will take the field with the same XI which means that Ajinkya Rahane has been given another opportunity at the top of the order.
Why is Jonny Bairstow not playing today’s match vs Delhi Capitals?
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner, on the other hand, revealed that he was wanting to bat first. “I was actually looking to bat first. It was disappointing to lose that last game with a lot of wickets in hand,” Warner told Star Sports during the toss.
Unlike Capitals, Sunrisers have made as many as three changes to their squad. Wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha, batsman Kane Williamson and spinner Shahbaz Nadeem have been included in the squad for wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow, batsman Kane Williamson and pacer Khaleel Ahmed.
While there were talks about Williamson coming in for all-rounder Jason Holder, SRH have surprised one and all by benching their second-highest run-scorer this season in Bairstow. In 11 IPL 2020 T20s, Bairstow’s 345 runs have come at an average and strike rate of 31.36 and 126.83 with the help of three half-centuries.
With Warner not being asked about Bairstow’s omission, it seems to be a change made to accommodate Williamson. Injury, if any to Bairstow, hasn’t been disclosed by the franchise as of now.
In Bairstow’s absence, it will be interesting to see who out of Saha or Williamson opens the batting alongside Warner.
