You have to be strong person as a captain: David Warner

David Warner has been the tower of strength for the Sunrisers Hyderabad team this season. He is the leader as well as the batting mainstay for the team, which has been marred by injuries and poor form.

This season has begun on a poor note for the Australian, who tasted two defeats before earning the first win. In their solitary win so far in this IPL, he made an unbeaten 90, chasing down the modest target set by Mumbai Indians. But, the win came only after they inflicted heavy losses to Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Warner has had a pretty forgettable time in the IPL with the two teams he has previously played for – Delhi Daredevils and now Sunrisers. He has won eight and lost 11 of the 19 matches in which he has led in the IPL. He admits it is not easy to take repeated defeats.

“It hurts more now that we don’t win as much as we had planned. You go, ‘How can we do this better, how can we do that better’, whereas as a player you go back and reflect on your own game, Warner told ESPNCricinfo.

“As a captain you are worrying about everything else, but you’ve still got to worry about your own game. It is tough, but you have to be a strong person to make sure that everyone is galvanising together and going in the right direction. It is easy to mope around and not talk about it, but when you express the feelings to everyone and keep it in the group, it goes a long way.”

Warner says that it’s about encouraging youngsters and teaching them ‘intent.’ He also asserted that youngsters must make sure that whatever they practice in the nets, they must take into the matches as well.

“It is about encouraging the player,” Warner says about how he teaches intent to his younger team-mates. “You have to keep encouraging people to a certain degree, but you have to be hard sometimes. You have to pull ’em back and say, ‘Look, this is what I think you should probably be working on, you are doing too much of this.’

“An example would be: we go into the nets and we face spin bowlers and try and hit every ball for a six. You go into the games and don’t do that. If you are going to go into the nets and practise properly, then I’m very happy with that. But make sure whatever you do at practice, you take into the game. That is what I want this team to do.”

The 29-year-old opens the batting for Australia in all formats of the game has achieved tremendous success. In the longest format, a player has lot more time to settle down as compared to the T20 format where there is only 120 ball to consume for a team.

But when asked whether how does he adjust mentally to the time factor; He says that it’s all about the attitude.

“As an opening batsman, I know we have 120 balls. When I am batting, if I can face half of those deliveries, I am doing my job for the team. The crucial thing is to get off to a good start. In this game, it is funny – it has got a lot more time than you think. If you [get your eye in] in the first six to ten overs, you still have 60 balls. That is a lot of time. It is not about hitting fours and sixes straightaway.

Warner also came up with a perfect example to further elaborate.

“Perfect example is Virat Kohli. He knows he probably he can’t be like Chris Gayle or AB de Villiers. But he is a conventional player. He plays very good cricket shots. He gives himself time. He comes down the wicket and hits over cover and midwicket all the time. That is his strength. He knows his game so well. That is where a lot of players can learn from him – who doesn’t have that power and the capacity to clear the ropes all the time.”

Warner turned family man after he married Australian athlete Candice Falzon in 2015. The couple has two daughters – 2-year-old Ivy Mae and newborn Indi Rae.

Captaincy and fatherhood are different roles and when asked to compare both the responsibilities, he says that his daughters don’t obey him so it is difficult to compare the roles of a father and a captain.

“At almost two years of age, when you say something, they don’t do it. That is the difference,” he says with a smile.

Still, his family life has played a big role in his cricket. “It has really encouraged me to be a different person in the sense of being a role model for my daughters, trying to be a role model for kids in general, trying to be a leader with the guys here, trying to make everything simple. Because we can complicate things in life, and with cricket we can complicate a very simple game – we bat, we bowl, we field and we practise.

“Two beautiful daughters and having a caring wife has settled me down a lot. It has helped me be the person who I am today. We go back to 2013 [when] I made a lot of mistakes – in my life, away from cricket, there were things going on that never needed to be expressed, but you get through those times. And I came out the other end very, very good. I love the person I have turned into.”

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