Enforcer Warner looks to rise on a new wave
KOLKATA: Should David Warner play on Sunday, it will be exactly a year to the day Australia were caught ball doctoring in Cape Town. Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody said not only was Warner available to rock Eden Gardens against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) but that he is jumping out of his skin to get started.
Moody’s comment was in line with team mentor VVS Laxman saying on Friday that Warner is in fine fettle. What could seem out of line though was Warner, who had elbow surgery on January 22 after cutting short his stint in Bangladesh Premier League, skipping training on Saturday.
The consequences of applying sandpaper on seam went beyond bans on Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft; it sparked an attempt to recalibrate the attitude of the Australia team that snarled its way to wins. Warner, whose spotty disciplinary record includes abusing journalists, a brawl with Joe Root and video footage showing he had to be dragged away from a confrontation with Quinton de Kock during the first Test of the series in South Africa last year, will never be considered for a leadership role, Cricket Australia has decided.
For Sunrisers though it will be different. “Leadership comes in many different fashions and Davey still has a leadership role within the group: in the middle with bat in hand and around training and out in the middle when it comes to strategy,” said Moody.
The international ban on Warner ends on March 28 but he has jetted around the world playing franchise cricket, even leading Sylhet Sixers in the Bangladesh Premier League where he scored two half-centuries and hit a six off Chris Gayle batting righthanded.
“He has always been an entertainer so there will be a lot of eyes on him. His batting is enjoyable not just to Sunrisers fans,” said Yusuf Pathan about his former skipper and explosive opener whose aggregate of 848 was the most runs in IPL 2016. In 2017, Warner totalled 641 runs and in each of the past four IPL seasons till the ban in 2018, he has scored over 500 runs.
Over the next few weeks, Warner will take tentative steps towards regaining a national team berth.
If Dinesh Karthik is also looking to the IPL to build a case for himself, he isn’t saying it. Till the KKR skipper addressed it, replying to whether this IPL is more important personally, the World Cup in England seemed to be the elephant in the media room.
“The lesser I think about the World Cup, the better for me. The most important thing for me is to do well for KKR and the team to do well. I am sure the World Cup will take care of itself for me,” said Karthik. It would have been nice to know whether Warner looked at things similarly but then he wasn’t even in the building.