Bazball’s ineffectiveness in India earlier this year had much to do with Jonny Bairstow’s inability to contribute even after being well-set on certain occasions. In the ongoing IPL too, the Englishman had aggregated just 96 in his first six innings.

But in what was the first of the must-win games for Punjab Kings to keep their playoff hopes alive, Bairstow again proved how devastating he could be. He produced a blinder of an innings (108 not out off 48 balls) to help the Kings overhaul the Kolkata Knight Riders’ 261/6, earning them an emphatic eight-wicket win with as many balls to spare at the Eden on Friday.

It’s a record chase, the highest ever in T20s overall and the IPL.

Considering how the Kings have been playing lately, their reprieves early on to Knight Riders openers Phil Salt (75 off 37) and Sunil Narine (71 off 32 balls) helped the duo hammer 138 upfront in just over 10 overs, which laid the foundation for the Knights bettering the Chennai Super Kings’ 235/4 against the hosts last year at this venue.

The Knights’ bowling attack was without Mitchell Starc, who was expensive in most of the games he was a part of but couldn’t feature in the XI because of a cut in his finger. His replacement, Sri Lankan Dushmantha Chameera, was no better as Bairstow’s opening partner and Impact Player (replacing pacer Arshdeep Singh) Prabhsimran Singh (54 off 20 balls) clobbered him and the others to take the Kings off to a flier, putting the pressure right back on KKR.

Then began the Bairstow storm. The dew too was starting to have its effect at that time. Narine (1/24) aside, all the other bowlers were hapless as Bairstow swatted and pulled in disdain.

Unlike his England limited-overs captain Jos Buttler, Bairstow didn’t have to do it all by himself as the impressive Shashank Singh (68 not out off 28 balls) too unleashed his array of strokes to make matters easier for his senior partner. Precisely, Bairstow didn’t have to take any kind of pressure at all as out of the unbroken 84-run stand he shared with Shashank for the third wicket, the latter alone contributed 68.

But what makes Bairstow’s innings special was his batting in the same flow with non-stop fours and sixes right through his stay. England have found success in both red and white-ball cricket when Bairstow has been on song. On this occasion, it was the Kings’ turn to reap the dividends.

For the Knights, even though most of their batters are contributing, the bowling group is turning out to be a serious worry going into the business end of the league phase. It’s time for the team management to put its thinking cap on.