If you cannot bat for your team, do not play at all – is the gist of Virender Sehwag‘s message to his former Delhi Daredevils teammate and now the Delhi Capitals skipper, David Warner.
Sehwag’s comments came after David Warner had had a slow-ish start to his IPL 2023 campaign wherein the left-hander was scoring runs but at a really pedestrian strike rate.
In his first 5 knocks in Indian Premier League 2023, Warner scored 228 runs at a good average of 45, however, those runs came at a slow strike rate of 116. This was attested to Warner playing the uncharacteristic anchor role while wickets around him tumbled. Whether it was Prithvi Shaw as opener, Rilee Rossow at number 3, or youngster Yash Dhull in the middle-order, Warner hasn’t gotten much support from his teammates in the batting department.
Consequently, Delhi Capitals lost their first five matches which led to criticism of David Warner as well from some of the greats of the game including Former Opener.
Speaking with Cricbuzz, an unimpressed Sehwag told Warner to look at how young Yashasvi Jaiswal is batting for Rajasthan Royals, where the youngster has got off to flying starts. The former India opener urged his ex-Delhi teammate to bat in attacking manner.
“I feel it is time that we tell him in English now so that Warner listens to it and feels hurt. David, if you are listening, please play well. Score 50 in 25 balls. Learn from Jaiswal, he hit in 25 balls. If you cannot do that, do not come and play in the IPL,” Sehwag said.
“It would have been better for the team if David Warner got out for 30 runs, rather than making 55-60. Players like Rovman Powell and Ishan Porel could have come out much earlier and maybe could have done anything. No balls were left for those players, and they are big hitters in team,” he added.
Legendary India batsman Sunil Gavaskar too expressed similar sentiments to Sehwag regarding Warner’s batting in the first five matches, saying that the DC captain has to take responsibility for his side’s five losses.
“If you are dismissed for 8 off 8, one can say okay he couldn’t find that rhythm. But you are the captain here, you have that experience. They showed that he was the fastest to 6000 IPL runs so you can never imagine him playing these knocks. David Warner would have been retired hurt by Delhi Capitals if he was not their captain. If this was a young Indian player, his tournament would have been over. It would have been his last match. Warner has to take responsibility for this loss,” he said.
David Warner replies to Virender Sehwag with his bat
It seems like Warner wasn’t immune to all these comments, and he himself would be the first one to address his batting issues, as in DC’s next game, against KKR, the left-handed opener blasted 57 runs off 41 balls. He was at his aggressive self and clattered 45(25) in the powerplay, helping DC to their first win of the season.
