IPL 2021: SRH has a good chance to win IPL this year, says Bairstow

England batsman Jonny Bairstow feels Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has a good chance of winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) title this year.

SRH had a decent outing in the 13th edition of IPL with the side finishing third in the points table after the league games. However, the David Warner-led side was unable to qualify in the finals and Bairstow, who opened the batting for SRH, is now looking forward to the upcoming edition.

"IPL is a fantastic tournament to be involved in, every international cricketer in the world wants to be involved in the IPL. I will be joining with Sunrisers Hyderabad in the next week or so," said Bairstow during the virtual press conference after the end of the second ODI.

"Am really excited as we did pretty well last year and I think we have got a good chance again this year. There have been some really good signings and also performances and if we can put them in together as unite and carry on from last year that will be an exciting place to be," he added.

Ben Stokes' swashbuckling 99 and Bairstow's 112-ball 124 saw England register a six-wicket win over India in the second ODI here at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Friday.

Chasing 337, England did not break a sweat as Stokes and Bairstow shared a 175-run stand for the second wicket. Bairstow now has 11 tons in ODIs and the opening batsman wants to score most hundreds for the English side. He is six centuries away from breaking Joot Root's record of most tons for England in ODIs.

"Naturally, I would like to have most ODI hundreds for England. Yes, I'm happy, that's the biggest thing since opening the batting. I am happy with those figures, but those figures mean nothing if you don't win. I'm really enjoying my game," said Bairstow.

While Bairstow whacked seven sixes during the chase, Stokes smashed 10. The six-hitting spree also saw the left-handed Stokes taking a special liking to spinners Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav.

"There hasn't been any conversation saying 'we must hit more sixes', it's just happening that way. I think if you look the way the game is going, be it 50-over cricket or T20 cricket, the team that hits the most boundaries generally wins the game. If you're hitting boundaries that go for six rather than four, you are going to win even more," said Bairstow.

"We had hit 20 sixes, that's an extraordinary number in one game. I don't know how many did we hit in the previous game. If we can keep hitting boundaries and putting bowlers under pressure, they know if they miss their length they could go for six," he added.

The series decider will be played at the same venue on Sunday.

Meanwhile, IPL 2021 will begin on April 9 this year with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Mumbai Indians locking horns in the tournament opener. SunRisers Hyderabad will play their first game on April 11 against KKR.

(ANI)

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