IPL 2024: Jonny Bairstow available for Punjab Kings for full season

IPL 2024 Punjab Kings: Jonny Bairstow to be available for full season

Jonny Bairstow will be available for the full season of Indian Premiere League (IPL) 2024 featuring in Punjab Kings team. Bairstow had returned back to England after an exhaustive Test series against India. IPL 2024 will start from March 22.

BCCI and their counterparts from the England Cricket Board (ECB) had a discussion on participation of English players in the IPL during the Dharamsala Test.

England players in the Test squad including captain Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Mark Woods had already opted out of the IPL 2024 tournament.

Jonny Bairstow had a nightmare of the series against India with the bat. Bairstow played his 100th Test against India and will expect to score some runs after a poor show in the Test series.

Bairstow will be available for the Punjab Kings’ first game against Delhi Capitals on March 23.

Sanjay Bangar will have additional responsibility of batting coach of Punjab Kings after being appointed as the cricket director of the team ahead of IPL 2024. He will replace Wasim Jaffer as batting coach of Punjab Kings. Bangar’s previous stint was with the RCB and he was also the batting coach of Indian Team.

Jaffer was Punjab Kings batting consultant in the last season. Punjab Kings have been performing poorly in the IPL tournament. Their only final appearance came in 2014.

Punjab’s head coach Trevor Bayliss’ contract will also end after this season. Any extension of his contract will solely depend on the performance of the team in IPL 2024.

Just like last season, Dharamsala is expected to host the final two home matches for Punjab Kings. All the other home games will be played at the newly-built stadium in Mullanpur, Mohali.