David Warner had led the SunRisers Hyderabad to their maiden IPL title in 2016 but the Australian was unceremoniously let go by the franchise. He was first removed as captain of the team and then even dropped from the squad, before the franchise decided against retaining him, which meant that Warner returned to the auction pool. On Thursday, the Australian avenged his unceremonious exit from the team by flaying them to all parts of Mumbai to help his new team Delhi Capitals ease to a 21-run victory in an IPL 2022 clash.
Warner smashed an unbeaten 92 off 58 balls to help his team post a match-winning 207 for three in 20 overs.
Following Delhi's win and Warner's match-winning knock, DC assistant coach Shane Watson caught up with his compatriot and spoke to him about facing his former team.
"I'm first going to go to the ex-captain of SunRisers Hyderabad. Little bit of fire in the belly for tonight's game," Watson said addressing Warner.
"Yeah look, I didn't need extra motivation that's for sure," Warner said immediately bringing a smile on Watson's face.
Warner also added that captain Rishabh Pant's take down of Shreyas Gopal where he plundered the spinner for 23 runs in an over was the turning point of the DC innings.
"Obviously we lost the toss, our job was to come out and try and get a great start in the powerplay. We always talk about it, if one person scores 80 and one person gets 40, probably going to win a lot of the games. Tonight, it was fantastic to be up there with Rovi . I think the way the Rishi (Rishabh Pant) came out and took down Shreyas Gopal was probably the turning point of the innings for us," added the left-handed Australian.
During Delhi's innings, Warner also got great support from Rovman Powell who smashed 67 off 35 balls.
"At the start of the competition I was a little bit off. I just keep believing in the work I have put in over the last couple of years. It's just trusting myself and trusting the process. The last few games. It's good to have the backing of the coaching staff and backing of the captain," said the West Indian star.
In reply, SRH could only manage 186 for eight in their 20 overs with Nicholas Pooran (62 off 34) top-scoring for his team. Khaleel Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi Capitals, taking three for 30 off four overs.