IPL 2023: Delhi Capitals Captain David Warner's Straightforward Response To 'Strike Rate Criticism'

All Indian batters in Delhi Capitals franchise have had issues against pace and spin. When asked to comment on this, DC skipper David Warner came up with a very straightforward reply.

All Indian batters in Delhi Capitals franchise have had issues against pace and spin.

Source : PTI

Australia batting legend David Warner, captain of franchise Delhi Capitals and also their leading run-getter in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 with 285 runs, scored 57 off 41 (his 4th fifty this year) to lay foundation of his team's first win in six games, defeating Kolkata Knight Riders at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday (April 20). Warner was already amongst the runs but struggling with the strike rate. 

All Indian batters in Delhi Capitals franchise have had issues against pace and spin. When asked to comment on this, Warner came up with a very straightforward reply, saying he doesn't have too many discussions with the batters of his team as he can't tell people how to bat.

“To be honest, we don't have too many discussions as you have to back your skills and I can't tell people how to bat. You have to actually work it out,” Warner was quoted as saying by PTI.

"If you have to face fast bowling and guys who are bowling 150 kmph, you got to have technique and method to score. If they keep coming at you and bowl into your rib-cage, you have to find a way how to score and if you can get one boundary, then they will start bowling into your areas,” said the World Cup winner.

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Warner gave an interesting theory about playing the short ball.

"In the nets ,it is very difficult to practice (short pitched bowling) and even in Australia we don't practice playing short balls. It's my feeling that if you practice short ball all the time in the nets, you become tentative in match.

"It's a reaction skill you have to remember. The bowler gets to bowl only one (short ball) max per over. That's a good thing for batters.” Ditto for spinner Varun Chakravarthy, whom Warner played with ease but none of the younger Indian batters were able to read well.

"I don't think a lot of guys were picking him (Varun) too well and some were trying to play him off backfoot. It's a duty as a batter to go to team analyst and see what kind of deliveries he is bowling.

"To me it is simple. If the back of his (bowling) hand doesn't go up in the air, it's his carrom ball. Its very simple. If some of the batters aren't picking him, they have to go back to analysts, study harder."

Warner had a strike-rate of around 116 in his five previous games and his 57 off 41 balls gave a glimpse of the batter everyone pays to watch.

(With PTI Inputs)