Born in Bradford, West Yorkshire in 1989, Bairstow is the second son of former Yorkshire and England wicket-keeper David Bairstow and the younger half-brother of former Derbyshire player Andrew Bairstow.

He displayed his early talent when he was chosen as the inaugural winner of the Young Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year award. This was for the form he showed in 2007 for St Peter’s School, York when he scored 654 runs.

During the 2008 season, he played second XI cricket for Yorkshire, in six championship matches he scored 308 runs at an average of 61.60. He was called up to the first-team squad for the final County Championship match of the season against Sussex but failed to make the starting eleven. At the end of the season he signed a two-year professional contract. He was very good in Football and Rugby. He has also played for Leeds United youth team.

Bairstow was a regular in the Yorkshire team in 2010, playing 16 first-class matches and scoring 918 runs. He averaged more than 40 for a second successive season, but could not convert any of his eight fifties into a maiden century. His performances led to selection for the England Performance Programme squad to tour Australia in 2010/11.

Bairstow was a member of the England ODI squad for their match against Ireland in August 2011; however, he was not picked to play. He did make his debut the following month after he was called up to the final ODI against India. Playing as a specialist batsman, he scored an unbeaten 41 off just 21 balls to help England reach a Duckworth-Lewis adjusted total. His innings included three sixes, the first off just the fifth ball he faced, and he was named Man of the Match.

On 11 October 2011, Bairstow hit a century off 53 balls as England beat a Hyderabad Cricket Association XI – during a warm up for a series against India.

On 23 February 2012, Bairstow was named man of the match in the second T20 of the series between Pakistan and England at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. England won the match.

Bairstow was named in the England squad for the first test against the West Indies at Lord’s after a successful start to the 2012 season, scoring two hundreds for Yorkshire, and an injury to Ravi Bopara had ruled him out of selection. On 17 May 2012, Bairstow was selected in the team and made his test debut and was presented his cap by close family friend and former Yorkshire and England cricketer, Geoff Boycott.

For the 2013 Ashes series, Bairstow was named in the squad as Nick Compton was dropped which allowed Joe Root to open the batting and leaving the number six spot free for Bairstow. . He was selected as the number six batsman for the 1st Test where he made scores of 37 and 15. In the 2nd Test, he made 67 off 146 balls in the first innings and 20 runs in the second innings helping England gain a 2–0 series lead.

Bairstow kept his place in the England side for the series against Pakistan in the UAE in 2015. He made just 23 runs in the first match as England narrowly missed out on winning the game as bad light stopped play with them just short of their target. Bairstow scored 43 in England’s first innings of the second Test, as they made 242. After making 41 in the first innings of the final Test, he made his first half-century of the series in his last innings, scoring 79, although it proved to be in vain as England lost to lose the series 2–0.

Bairstow scored 140 in the first game against Sri Lanka to help England out of a precarious situation in the 2016 series against England. He was named man of the match for his efforts, which also included taking nine catches, as England won the game to go 1–0 up in the series. He scored 48 in the second match, with England posting a big first innings score. He was not required to bat in the second innings as England won the match by nine wickets. He continued his excellent form into the final match of the series, where he scored an unbeaten 167 in England’s first innings to help them to 416. He made 32 in the second innings, although rain ended the match, with no result being reached. England won the series 2–0, with Bairstow being awarded player of the series jointly with Kaushal Silva.

In the first Test against India in 2016, Bairstow scored 46 in England’s first innings total of 537, and was not required to bat in the second innings. He also took six catches and a stumping in the match. In the second Test he made 53 in the first innings before making an unbeaten 34 in the second as England suffered a loss of 246 runs. In the third Test he made 89 in England’s first innings total of 283, but after England conceded a first innings lead, he could make just 15 in the second innings as India secured an eight wicket victory. In the fourth Test he made 14 in the first innings, before making 51 in the second innings as England were dismissed for 195 to lose the match by an innings and 36 runs.

Bairstow played in the third ODI against India and made 56 as England posted 321/8 and won by five runs, although they lost the series 2–1. In the 4th Test of the home series against South Africa, Bairstow became the ninth England wicket-keeper to take 100 Test dismissals. On 19 September 2017, Bairstow scored an unbeaten 100 against the West Indies at Old Trafford to record his first century in ODI cricket. On 29 September 2017, Bairstow scored an unbeaten 141 against the West Indies at Rose Bowl, Southampton which is the highest score by an England batsman against the West Indies in ODIs, beating the previous best of 130 made by Marcus Trescothick in 2004.

On 15 December 2017, with Bairstow promoted to no.6 in place of the suspended Ben Stokes, he scored 119 runs against Australia. He was promoted to be an opening batsman in the limited overs series.

For his performances in 2018, he was named in the World ODI XI by ICC and Cricinfo. On 14 May 2019 Bairstow scored 128 off 93 balls to help England to a win over Pakistan in a One Day International at Bristol County Ground.

In December 2018, he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the player auction for the 2019 Indian Premier League.

Bairstow made his IPL debut on 24 March 2019 for SRH against Kolkata Knight Riders, he scored 39 off 35 balls as an opener but ended up on losing side. Bairstow continued to impress in the first SRH home game with a match winning 45 off 28 balls against Rajasthan Royals in a high scoring affair. He also kept wickets for the team. Bairstow scored his maiden IPL hundred 114 (56) against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on 31 March 2019 and became the first keeper-batsmen to score a 100 for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Bairstow played 10 games for SRH and scored 445 runs at an average of 55.62.In December 2019, Bairstow was retained by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2020 Indian Premier League.

On 29 May 2020, Bairstow was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 June 2020, Bairstow was included in England’s 30-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the Test series against the West Indies. On 9 July 2020, Bairstow was included in England’s 24-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the ODI series against Ireland. On 27 July 2020, Bairstow was named in England’s squad for the ODI series. On 6 September 2020, in the second T20I against Australia, Bairstow became the first batsman for England to be dimissed by hitting his own wicket in a T20I match.