OPINION
Follow UsCricket is a team sport. No personal milestone takes precedence over the team’s cause. But the game has theatrical elements attached to it based on individual levels. These could be a battle between two opposition players, two teams or a sense of occasion. Match 50 of IPL 2022 had a rare mix of all three of them - a contest between a player and an opposition kicked off by a love-hate relationship between the two parties.
Yes, David Warner against his former team was the most anticipated subplot of the Delhi Capitals-Sunrisers Hyderabad game.
Franchise cricket is still in its teenage years. In the upcoming future, we might have enough such instances that Buzzfeed or ScoopWhoop will write a listicle about it. For now, Warner and SRH arguably form the first player-franchise relationship that took a sudden twist for the worst.
Warner was synonymous with SRH’s success. He turned a team of dark horses into bonafide winners, leading them to their only title in 2016. He led them from the front like few other captains have, scoring 4,014 runs in their colors, the most for the franchise. He embraced the Hyderabadi culture and if you use Instagram, you don’t need any explanation. In short, Warner was the face of Hyderabad in IPL and probably deserved a statue of his own in the city.
Then came the blip that sucked all the love out of the relationship. They lost five of their first six games in the 2021 season. Warner had only 193 runs in these six games at a strike rate of 110.2. The team dynamics required an underperforming overseas player to be dropped and unfortunately, Warner was the only candidate.
While the shift in captaincy and Warner’s omission carried cricketing merit, he was not kept as a part of the dugout at the back end of the season which left a sour taste with everyone.
The left-hander ended the notice period with a smile on his face and waved the SRH flag from the stands but it was an abrupt end of a relationship that was expected to stand the test of time.
“I look at you [Warner] and I still think Sunrisers,” summed up Harsha Bhogle at the presentation.
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It feels right out of a movie script that Warner got back with his old franchise, Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) to begin his post-SRH journey. Back in 2014, the Delhi management were happy to let Warner go, not using the RTM card which cleared SRH’s path. Clearly, they made a mistake but when the co-owner Kiran Gandhi got him back in the auction earlier this year, he had a beaming smile on his face. A part of it might be due to the steal price at which they signed him back - INR 6.25 crore.
He had proven his T20 form in the World Cup. Right after the IPL, he was the player of the tournament in Australia’s maiden title win. In addition, he had a point to prove in the IPL. Considering his ‘bulldog’ spirit to fight back, he was the steal of the auction.
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Despite missing the first two games, he is Delhi’s highest run-scorer this season. His 356 runs are now almost 100 runs more than the next best - Rishabh Pant (260). With an average of 59.3 and striking at 156.8, he has coupled consistency with authority again.
Delhi needed it the most on Thursday night. Only one defeat away from a position of a virtual knockout every game, they didn’t have Prithvi Shaw, the opener they retained. No one from their middle-order had scored a fifty yet. Their batting looked David Warner or bust.
The 35-year-old responded by batting through. He scored only 1 run off the six balls he faced from Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the powerplay, citing the threat from the master of swing bowling whom he had captained for seven years. Smartly, he took on the other pacers, taking them down for 64 runs off 36 deliveries. He neutralized the threat of SRH’s x-factor, Umran Malik.
The young lad kept bowling rockets but pace has never perturbed this Australian opener. He carted him around for 23 runs off 11 balls with 100 percent control. Finding apt support in Rovman Powell, he carried Delhi to a total of 207, smashing an unbeaten 92 off 58 balls.
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Payback holds peripheral importance in professional cricket but fulfills the dramatic narrative from the viewer’s perspective. After all, sports is drama but unscripted. Warner settled scores with his previous franchise alongside playing a massive part in a crucial victory for his current side.
It wasn’t the sweet three-figure mark but he also didn’t get the strike in the first and the last over. His 92 basically came off 18 overs.
When Powell was smashing it all over the park, Warner cheered him to go for more. As Powell said after the innings: "I asked David before the last over that if I should take a single so you can go for your century. He said, 'look man, this isn't how we play cricket. Just smoke how hard you can.'"
“I was cooked towards the back end. I am glad Powell was at the other end,” said Warner in appreciation for his partner after collecting his player-of-the-match award.
“You are an IPL great,” Bhogle signed off.
Not to forget, this is Warner’s 89th T20 fifty, going past Chris Gayle’s tally of most half-centuries in T20 cricket.
