"I'll be blown away if he...": Shane Watson opens up on David Warner's struggles in IPL 2023
David Warner has struggled with his strike-rate in IPL 2023
Former Australian cricketer, Shane Watson, has recently espoused his confidence in the batting performance of his former colleague and current Delhi Capitals skipper, David Warner, whose sluggish strike-rate has been under the scanner in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
The erstwhile all-rounder, who now dons the hat of Delhi Capitals' assistant coach, asserted that Warner is likely to exhibit an improvement in his batting skills as he rectifies certain aspects of his game.
Watson, speaking on Grade Cricketer podcast, emphasized that the dynamic exhibited a more audacious and valiant mindset in his last appearance against Mumbai Indians as he took the game on and displayed fearlessness while playing.
Watson belives David Warner is very close to his best
He admitted that Warner missed a few shots that he would have typically hit for fours and sixes, but stated that such technical nuances are part and parcel of the batter’s ongoing development as a player.
“The other night, Dave [Warner] definitely had a [much] more fearless mindset with the way he was batting. He was taking the game on,” said Watson as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Furthermore, the Aussie stalwart believes that his role as a coach is to assist Warner in resolving some technical discrepancies and expressed his firm belief that the southpaw will begin hitting the ball more effectively in the coming days, thereby setting the IPL alight.
“There’s one or two little things that I know he’ll get right over the next couple of days and I’ll be blown away if he doesn’t – yes, he’s been scoring runs, but from a scoring perspective – if he doesn’t set the IPL alight from now on, knowing that he’s so close,” added the DC assistant coach.
Despite scoring 209 runs in four games with three half-centuries, Warner's slow strike rate of 114.84 has raised concerns among the team management. According to Watson, once Warner finds the sweet spot of his bat, his scoring rate will significantly increase.
“He’s batting very nicely. He’s just mis-hitting some balls that he’d normally hit for four or six. Once you do that, once you start really finding the middle of your bat, then your scoring rate just goes through the roof,” concluded Watson.
The Aussie veteran also acknowledged the pressure that Warner may feel after the team lost all four games they played. He stated that the beginning of the tournament was far from perfect, but insisted that the Delhi Capitals captain is close to hitting his stride and leading the team to victories.
 "Jatin")