Punjab Kings (PBKS) have suffered a huge blow ahead of the IPL 2023 season as England star Jonny Bairstow will be expected not to take part in the upcoming campaign to focus on a return to the Test team in time for this year’s Ashes. Bairstow was one of the stars for England in 2022 in Test cricket as he benefited massively from the new ‘Bazball’ mantra under coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.

The right-handed batter scored a whopping 1061 runs in 19 innings last year, with six centuries under his belt at an average of 66.31. Bairstow was expected to play a big role in the winter for England during the Pakistan tour and the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.

However, disaster would strike in the most unfortunate of circumstances as the England batter suffered a freak accident while playing golf and was left with a badly broken leg.

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Bairstow had to undergo surgery to repair the damage done to him and was forced to miss out on England’s T20 World Cup triumph in Australia and then whitewashed Pakistan in a three-match series. There was a cloud of doubt around Bairstow’s participation in the IPL 2023 season, where he was expected to be one of the main stars for PBKS as they looked to secure their first title win.

However, according to the Daily Mail, Jonny Bairstow has now decided to skip this year’s campaign for a return to the England side for the Ashes in June against Australia.

This means that Bairstow will be continuing his rehabilitation process at Yorkshire, while targeting a return in the early weeks of the County Championship or the one-off Test against Ireland, starting on 1st June.

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The man who replaced Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, has made a strong start to his Test career. However, coach McCullum and Stokes had always said that the 33-year-old will be walking back into the team once he fully recovers from his injury. Bairstow’s absence means that PBKS may have to look into the unsold list of players from the IPL 2023 auction and take up a foreign replacement.