‘In first 3-4 years, he only looked to hit the ball. Didn’t care about runs’ | Cricket

Virender Sehwag and aggressive stroke-play were a match made in heaven. In his heydays, the former India opener was a fearless striker of the ball regardless of the opposition. He would smash the bowlers to the cleaners and Sehwag would be his attacking self at the start in all three formats. In the IPL, he first plied his trade for Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) and then shifted his base to Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). (Follow IPL 2022 Coverage)

During his stint with the Delhi outfit, Sehwag saw an aggressive David Warner with a no-holds-barred approach when it came to scoring runs. The Indian batting great revealed how Warner tweaked his game to start playing according to situations.

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A proven performer in the T20 format, Warner has got over 5,500 IPL runs including six consecutive 500-run seasons. He also led Sunrisers Hyderbad to the coveted IPL trophy in 2016.

“In his first 3-4 years, he only looked to hit the ball. He didn’t care about the runs he scored. He didn’t care about playing a match-winning knock. But as he continued to play international cricket, his game started to change. He scored consistent 500+ scores for Sunrisers, played match-winning innings, and played according to situations. David Warner deserves big credit for their title-winning season as well. So, that is the change that I saw in him. He turned from being a pinch-hitter to a match-winner,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

Sehwag further heaped praise on Warner for his consistent show this season. The Australian star parted ways with Hyderabad before Delhi Capitals snapped him up for ₹6.25 crore.

Warner had started his IPL journey with the Delhi outfit back in 2009. He has gathered 261 runs in six games so far and is currently the top run-scorer for his IPL franchise with three fifties under his belt.

“David Warner made the most of his experience. He saw that Prithvi Shaw and Mitchell Marsh have been dismissed early and he took the responsibility to steady the ship. But despite that, his strike rate did not dip. SRH will feel the pain whenever David Warner scores runs,” Sehwag further added.