The Australian international then moved to the Delhi Capitals to play for them on IPL this year. He was quite successful to score for the team as he made multiple half-centuries across games. Warner also often became the top scorer in recent matches.
“I was looking at all-time IPL XI and he (Warner) was always in the consideration. If you consider four overseas players in it, he is certainly the rival to Chris Gayle. He has also been in a leadership role before and his fielding is really good. A happy David Warner and an in-form David Warner is a good guy to have in your team,” Smith said as quoted from Cricket.com.
Smith later said Ricky Pointing is the one keeping Warner in order. The DC head coach is already familiar with the short-temperament player.
“He is not the easy character to have in your team. He needs to be happy and Ricky Ponting understands that and knows how to get the best out of him,” the former South African national team captain added.
DC vs PBKS
Warner’s best performance in this season of IPL includes his team’s last match against Punjab Kings. The match was held last Wednesday o April 20, 2022, at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. It was the 32 of 70 games in the IPL 2022. The match ends when DC surpassed PBKS score in significantly short 10.3 overs.
DC won the coin toss and decided to take the field. PBKS bats in the first innings and scored a measly 115 runs in 20 overs. DC bats in the second innings and was able to win by 9 wickets and 57 balls left. The top scorer for the team is David Warner with 60 runs not out off 30 balls.
DC won the match even when six of its members for testing positive for COVID-19. Included in the group are Mitchell Marsh and Tim Seifert. Graeme Smith pointed out how great for DC to win.
“The only thing I can think about is that it was good toss to win for Delhi Capitals to settle the nerves due to the virus scare. 180-190 would’ve been a competitive tonight, but it's been so disappointing from their (Punjab) top four. But Delhi are back in the competition,” Smith said.
Smith expressed his admiration for Axar Patel’s performance in this match. The left-arm spin all-rounder was able to dismiss Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma in a 2/10 within four overs.
“It was beautiful bowling to Livingstone – flat and hitting the surface, knowing that the batsman was going to take on him. The key tonight was he bowled stump to stump and got enough turn to create doubt and difficult to get away. Kuldeep is the main spinner in that lineup but Axar will be very happy with the outcome. Credit also needs to go to Rishabh Pant. He had the right bowlers at the right time to keep the wickets coming,” he said.
