Old camaraderie with Delhi Capitals flamboyant approach helps David Warner to flourish in IPL 2022 – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

So David Warner has his revenge, hasn’t he?

An unbeaten 92 off 58 against his previous franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the one which dumped him quite unceremoniously last season completely ignoring his prior track record for them; set up a crucial triumph for Delhi Capitals on Thursday night. And these much-needed two points keeps them in the hunt for a place at the playoffs.

Well, as a team Delhi may have been quite patchy this season but with bat Warner seems to be in a different zone altogether for his new recruiters. Though for the Aussie opener, coming back to Delhi is a bit of a homecoming. Back in the days when this franchise used to be known as the Delhi Daredevils, they scouted a 22-year old top-order batter from the club cricket circuit of New South Wales and offered him a two-year contract, even before he played his first First-Class match.

David Warner of Delhi Capitals hits over the top for six during match 50 of the TATA Indian Premier League 2022 (IPL season 15) between the Delhi Capitals and the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Sportzpics

It was considered as a huge gamble at that time but Warner didn’t disappoint. With his growing stature at the international level Warner soon became an integral part of the Daredevils line-up. He justified the trust this franchise showed on him in his early days with power-packed performances in the subsequent seasons. He represented Delhi till 2013 before moving to Hyderabad in 2014.

So the camaraderie between Warner and the Delhi management goes back a long way. And it was quite evident in the last auction as well.

Following his ugly fallout with SRH, Warner was a hot-pick in the mega IPL auction this year and Delhi were the first team to bid for him. Later Mumbai and Chennai went after him too. But eventually Rishabh Pant’s team had the last laugh and at 6.25 cr, it was nothing short of a steal for them.

With no additional burden of captaincy and the presence of familiar Aussie faces in their dressing room, the Delhi set-up is perhaps ideal for someone like Warner, who bats at his best when he has the freedom to go after the bowling. And Ricky Ponting has allowed him to do that.

Along with Prithvi Shaw, Warner’s job here is to take on the bowling in the powerplay and later convert his starts into big scores. And with 356 runs in eight innings at 59.33 along with a strike-rate of 156.82 this season, swashbuckling southpaw is doing what he does best — making a statement with his bat.

Since Warner’s role is quite similar in his national team’s T20 scheme of things, adjusting to this Delhi template hasn’t been a hustle for him. Also let’s not forget that Warner was the “Player of the tournament’ in the T20 World Cup in UAE just six months back.

Hence, at this point Warner’s form is the biggest asset for Delhi. He missed a few games initially due to international commitments but ever since he has taken up that opening slot, things have started to come back on track for them, at least on the batting front.

Most importantly, Warner is a thorough team man and his commitment is unquestionable. We witnessed an instance of this in the SRH game when he preferred to remain at the non-striking end at 92* and encouraged Rovman Powell go for big hits in the last over of the Delhi innings.

“At the start of the over, I asked him if he wanted a single, to try and get the hundred and he said: ‘Listen, that is not how the cricket play.’ I should try to smack it as hard as I can and as far as I can, and I did that,” revealed Powell during a chat with the broadcaster.

Not only Warner sacrificed his well-deserve hundred but he continued to cheer for his partner as Powell smacked India’s fastest pacer Umran Malik all over the park in that game-changing last over.

An act like this can lift the moral of the whole unit.

Meanwhile, the road to the playoffs is still quite stiff for Delhi. But with an in-form Warner, who now has the most number of half-centuries in T20s (89), let’s not count the Capitals out yet.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, IPL Live Score, IPL 2022 schedule, IPL 2022 Points table and Entertainment News. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.