'Jonny Bairstow plays IPL?' - Irfan Pathan takes a hilarious dig after the batter's century against WI

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan was mightily impressed with the century from Jonny Bairstow during the ongoing first Test for England in West Indies and he made an interesting comment on it on Twitter. Bairstow was recently bought by the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2022 mega auction after a bidding war among the franchises and he is expected to play a big role for his IPL franchise.

Coming to the England Test, the visitors had to bat first in Antigua and the top order failed again to leave England tottering at 48 for four. However, a 67-run crucial partnership between Ben Stokes (36) and Bairstow rescued the England side a little bit while Wicketkeeper Ben Foakes (42) showed some good fight as well. Despite the early wickets, England ended the first innings at 311. Bairstow went on to score 140 off 259 deliveries.

Recently, the England cricket board felt the need for their Test players to miss IPL so that they could prepare well for the longer format in the meantime, however, so far it has been the other way around. The likes of Joe Root, Ben Stokes who had pulled out of IPL 2022 weren’t among the runs in the first Test while Bairstow, who has been a regular feature in IPL, was back at his best. Pathan wasn’t shy of taking a dig for pointing at IPL being the reason for England’s failure in the recent Ashes.

Jonny Bairstow plays IPL?

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 9, 2022

Jonny Bairstow’s impactful innings rescues England

Bairstow brought up his eighth Test century in the first Test against West Indies and this is his second consecutive century in Tests as well. The right-hander has had a brilliant start to the year 2022 and would be hoping to build onto it with some loads of runs as well. It has to be noted that Bairstow had fallen off the radar from England’s Test team in the last two to three years and his century at SCG had started his redemption phase in the longer format.