“My thoughts are like any other game,” David Warner said a day before his former team Sunrisers Hyderabad play for the first time
Warner made the IPL 2022 match 50 sound like any other game, posted it on his Instagram handle and a few days later the match will probably be crushed in the heap of IPL scorecards. But knowing the severity of the incident, some fans responded, “It’s time for Suda,” some offered two pairs of score sets with Sunrisers, and one Sunrisers fan club said, “Davy, get on with us easily.”
It was inevitable that Warner would score big against the Sunrisers, and for good reason, Warner himself did not say much. Warner’s unbeaten 92 off 58 balls took the Delhi Capitals to their third-highest 200 in the IPL and a 21-run victory over Sunrisers.
The manner in which Warner was expelled from the Sunrisers camp last season, the manner in which he was left behind for a few matches in a hotel room and was expelled from the team management, has found him in controversy and a “bitter swallow.” Warner.
A few weeks later, Warner changed his form to help Australia lift their first T20 World Cup, becoming the second-highest run-scorer and receiving the Player-of-the-Series award. He added: “It hurts when you are dropped from the team you love the most when there is nothing wrong with you and the captaincy is removed without giving a reason.”
How could his first match against Sunrisers then be his second match? Have all the scars healed?
Broadcaster Harsha Bhogle asked Warner in a presentation on Thursday, “Did anything happen in today’s innings? Flow, strokeplay, everything was perfect.”
Warner only mentioned favorable conditions for batting, but nothing about the past.
“I think when you put your head up here and look at that wicket, it’s a great wicket and you batted that the other one doesn’t matter,” Warner replied. “You know it’s going to be nice and true and I’ve definitely had success here and I’ve played my strokes, not thought to hit the distance and just saw the ball and hit the ball. It was going to come out and it was lucky. Done.”
Bhogle exclaimed again. “But it looked a little too much today, especially when Rowman Powell was batting, he was hitting sixes, you shout out, was it a little too much today?”
Warner turned to challenging weather this time. “It’s definitely challenging here because of the humidity in Mumbai. I cooked there at the back end, I’m getting older and have rovi at the other end, he has some serious power to clear the fence, it was an amazing strike. I was. He was happy at the other end. “
Bhogle pushed him once again and this time directly. “You didn’t need inspiration today. I look up to you and I still think sometimes Sunrisers, honestly.”
Warner also responded more directly but did not elaborate. “I didn’t need extra motivation. We’ve all seen what happened in the past and it was just to win the board and get back into this competition.”
The truth finally came out after a presentation after home broadcaster Star Sports hired Capitals assistant coach and Warner’s former Australia team-mate Shane Watson. He was asked “Is there a little more against his old side?”
“It was a little too much,” Watson said with a smile. “He was definitely ready and played all the games in the team meeting, the intensity you need for your best performance, and Davy has definitely brought it tonight. And everyone else has lost that energy too. You look at Rowman’s way. That energy boiled down. Dave, with his energy, ran the train, desperate to prove a point. He did it tonight, of course.
“You can see the intensity he had tonight and he wanted to make sure he did everything possible, left no stone unturned for tonight’s game and took a beautiful step.”
Kevin Pietersen commented, “This is a hateful match for David Warner,” but Warner did not take it too far and made sure the team’s needs were greater than his. He was on 92 after 19 overs but was not on strike for the final over. He could have easily reached a century against his predecessor if he had planned with Powell, but when the two batsmen met at mid-pitch before the final over, Warner told Powell to hit big and not to give him a strike.
“At the beginning of the last over, I asked him if he wanted to hit a century with a single attempt, but he said, ‘Listen, cricket is not played like that,’ and I should try to hit it as hard as I can. And I did,” Powell told Capitol. Was broadcast after the left.
When Warner was asked about not scoring a century, he said: “100%. And I told him I was scoring two runs, whatever it was and I didn’t care if I was run out. There is a score but nothing more than 200 [was good] and I told him that if he was finally there you could get 210-220. So I was glad he cleared the fence. Last over].
In a chat on iplt20.com, Watson asked Warner, “Do you think you will have the same fire in your stomach for the next few matches?”
“I always have fire in my stomach, you know Shane,” Warner replied, shaking his head and smiling heartily as Watson stood next to him.
