Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner says he’s loving batting with England’s Jonny Bairstow.
The Ashes rivals have teamed up in devastating fashion at the top of the order for SRH and continued their double-act against Kings XI Punjab.
The pair shared a 160-run partnership as Hyderabad secured a comfortable 69-run success in their last fixture.
Jonny Bairstow was the highlight as he smashed a brilliant 97 from just 55 balls, including six sixes and seven fours. Warner also played his part with a more measured 52 from 40 balls.
Despite their Ashes rivalry, Warner is delighted with how he has formed a partnership with the Englishman.
He said: “I don't know why people think there's so much hatred between the two countries!
“It's going well at the moment. I'm just giving him strike. Look, we really enjoy batting together out there.
“We tried to take it to them and fortunately enough today we were able to get through the powerplay.”
The duo are set to team-up once more when Sunrisers take on Rajasthan Royals in their next fixture.
Milestone for Warner
The win over Punjab was also significant for the Sunrisers skipper as he became the first batsman in IPL history to get a half-century of half-centuries.
The score against KXIP was his 46th fifth-plus finish, which sits alongside his four IPL tons.
Overall, he has now notched 4,933 runs in 192 games in the Indian Premier League at an average of over 42.
Bishnoi and Pooran caused problems
Both Warner and Bairstow eventually fell to the bowling of Ravi Bishnoi.
The 20-year-old took the key scalps on his way to returning figures of 3-29.
However, despite that and a brilliant knock of 77 from Nicholas Pooran, Kings XI fell short of Sunrisers.
Speaking afterwards, the young Punjab bowler said: “After my first over went for 18 runs, my goal was thinking that whenever I get another chance to bowl, I will do well for the team and scalp a wicket.
On Pooran’s innings, he added: “His batting was next level and world-class. We have all seen how well he hit the ball. He showed his power-hitting and it was great fun to watch him,” he said.
