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Matthew Short’s meteoric rise has continued, with the Victorian joining the Punjab Kings ahead of this year’s Indian Premier League as an injury replacement for English superstar Jonny Bairstow.
Bairstow suffered a gruesome broken leg while playing golf in September, ruling him out of England’s winter campaign and the T20 World Cup. The 33-year-old has resumed training but he is not expected to return to full fitness until May; the ECB is confident that he will be available for the highly anticipated Ashes, which begins on June 22.

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On Saturday, the Punjab Kings confirmed that Bairstow had been ruled out of the IPL, which begins next week, announcing Short as his replacement for the two-month tournament.

Short, currently playing in the Sheffield Shield final in Perth, was named Player of the Big Bash League this summer after recording 458 runs at 35.23 and 144.47 for the Adelaide Strikers. He scored an unbeaten century during the Strikers’ record chase against the Hobart Hurricanes in January, also catching 11 wickets in T20 competition.

The 27-year-old, who has never played for a cricket franchise outside of Australia, will join Tasmanian sailor Nathan Ellis in the Punjab-based franchise.

“When I was younger, Greg Chappell once said, you take care of everything on the pitch and you score runs and you bowl well and all the contracts and stuff will take care of themselves, so I’ve always stuck to that,” Short said earlier. it’s from the season. .

“I just enjoy playing cricket and just try to take care of things on the pitch rather than think about anything off the pitch.”

Of the 14 Australians set to play in the IPL, Short is the only one yet to make his international debut.

Following his retirement earlier this month, former Australian captain Aaron Finch has identified Short as one of the candidates to replace him in the T20 national team, while Victoria’s hitting coach Ben Rohrer believes he is “definitely” ready. for the challenges of international cricket.

“We’ve seen what he’s done in the last two Big Bash summers at the top of the order,” Rohrer said. foxsports.com last month.

“He plays very well with spin, he plays very well at a high pace. He is more than ready to be able to do that at the top of the order for Australia.

“Hopefully that comes for him in the near future, and there’s no question he’ll work hard to try and get there.”

The Punjab Kings will play their opening match of the IPL against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday, with the first dance scheduled for 9pm AEDT.