IPL 2023: Punjab Kings announce uncapped Australian Matthew Short as Jonny Bairstow's replacement

IPL franchise Punjab Kings have announced that star-English batter Jonny Bairstow is ruled out of the upcoming season owing to a freak injury he suffered while playing golf with his friends in Yorkshire last year. They have replaced the England international with an uncapped Australian batter Matthew Short, who made headlines in BBL this year for registering 458 runs (second-highest) at an average of 35.23 and a strike rate of 144.47.

Punjab via BCCI was awaiting the latest fitness status of Bairstow from the ECB after the right-handed batter had resumed training in late February. As per the latest reports, Jonny returned to the nets in the past week and is likely to feature in Division two of the County Championship which usually starts in May. Considering this, PBKS announced his replacement in this video posted on their social media handle.

Meanwhile, on September 2nd last year, Bairstow broke his left leg and dislocated his ankle while playing golf with his friends. He slipped and suffered multiple fractures in his fibula, which required surgery wherein a plate was also inserted. Following that, Bairstow got sidelined for an indefinite time and missed all the cricketing action – including the T20 World Cup in Australia that England won, the historic away Test series in Pakistan, and the New Zealand tour that followed.

An IPL-winner with the SunRisers Hyderabad in 2016, Bairstow had a shallow 2022 season with Punjab – where he just managed 253 runs in 11 matches, averaging 23.00 with a strike rate of 144.57, including two fifties.

On the other hand, Matthew Short garnered attention from the cricket world following his breakthrough BBL season, where he starred for the Adelaide Strikers at the top of the order. His best innings in BBL 2022/23 came during an exciting chase against Hobart Hurricanes, where he scored an unbeaten hundred and helped Adelaide chase a mammoth total of 230 with seven wickets in hand.

Besides, he’s a handy off-spinner who picked 11 wickets during the tournament.

Currently, he’s playing for Victoria against Western Australia in the Shield final, where he scored 36 and 3, respectively, across both innings.

As Punjab begins its IPL 2023 campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders, it remains to be seen when will Short make his IPL debut.