Bairstow picks his top three T20 batters, names toughest bowlers he ever faced

Jonny Bairstow (Pic: AFP)

England and Punjab Kings (PBKS) batter Jonny Bairstow revealed his top three T20 batters among the present crop in the world.

Bairstow is currently representing PBKS in the ongoing IPL 2024, however, he has failed to showcase his top form in the tournament, scoring just 96 runs in six matches at an average of 16.00, with the best score of 42.

Speaking in a video posted by ESPNCricinfo, Bairstow said that his current top three T20 batters are: Suryakumar Yadav (India and Mumbai Indians), Jos Buttler (England and Rajasthan Royals) and Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa and Sunrisers Hyderabad).

Suryakumar has been the number one ranked T20I batter for quite a while. In 60 T20Is, he has scored 2,141 runs at an average of 45.55, with a strike rate of 171.55. He has scored four centuries and 17 fifties in T20Is. In the ongoing IPL, he has made 130 runs in four matches, with two half-centuries.

Klaasen is also a highly sought-after player on the league cricket circuit. In six matches of the ongoing IPL season, he has scored 253 runs at an average of 63.25, with a strike rate of over 199. He has scored three half-centuries and is the seventh-highest run-getter in the season. Over last couple of years or so, he has replicated this form across various T20 leagues, like The Hundred in UK, SA20 in South Africa, Major League Cricket in the USA, etc, making him one of the best out there now.

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Buttler is in hot form during the IPL this season, having scored 250 runs in six matches at an average of 62.50, with two centuries. In 114 T20Is for England, he has made 2,927 runs at an average of 34.84, with a strike rate of 144.61, with a century and 22 fifties. In T20 cricket as a whole, Buttler has scored 11,396 runs in 409 matches at an average of 34.95, with eight centuries and 80 fifties.

On the best bowlers he has faced in nets, he named South African legend Dale Steyn and current Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.

Steyn is considered as one of the finest pacers of all time, having taken 699 wickets in 265 matches. On the other hand, Bumrah has taken 382 wickets in 187 international games. The India is also in top form during the ongoing IPL, sitting at the top of the wicket-taking charts with 13 scalps in seven games.

Bairstow named his English teammate and pace spearhead, Jofra Archer, as someone he does not like facing in the nets.

On the bowler who gave him sleepless nights, Bairstow mentioned Australian pace legend Mitchell Johnson, who has 590 wickets in 256 matches.

Bairstow named Australian skipper Pat Cummins as a player who he wants to play for England during the Ashes, because of how he "bats, bowls and galvanises his team". Notably, Cummins managed to draw the Ashes series in the UK by 2-2 last year and retained the prestigious urn.

On a spinner he would like to avoid facing, Bairstow wasted no time in naming Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, calling him "phenomenal.". Jadeja has taken 567 wickets in 335 international games.

Currently, PBKS is in ninth place with two wins and five losses, giving them just four points. They will next play the Gujarat Titans (GT) at Mullanpur Stadium on Sunday.

(With agency inputs)