‘He partied more than believing in practice or playing matches’: Virender Sehwag on David Warner
Virender Sehwag-David Warner (Image Source: BCCI/IPL)
David Warner is the most successful overseas player in the history of the Indian T20 League. He has played 158 matches in ITL and has scored 5805 runs in them at an average of 42.37 and a strike rate of 140.9. His numbers speak of his amazing consistency while being able to score at a great rate.
The Australian star has become well acquainted with the norms of the cash-rich league by now. But it was not the same in his early days in the tournament. He made his debut in the Indian T20 League in 2009 for Delhi. He was not scoring fluently that season and as per revelations by Virender Sehwag was giving hard time to the team management with disciplinary issues.
Notably, Virender Sehwag was leading the Delhi team at that time. He also revealed that Warner fought with a couple of players. As a result, the team management decided to keep him out to teach him a lesson.
During a conversation with Cricbuzz, Sehwag said – “I too have vented out my frustrations on a couple of players and David Warner was one of them. Because when he had joined newly, he partied more than believing in practice or playing matches. In the first year, he had a fight with a few players so we sent him back for the last two matches.”
“Sometimes it happens that you keep someone out to teach them a lesson. He was new so it was important to show him that you alone are not important for the team, others are too. There are other players who can play and win the match for the team too. And that’s what happened. We kept him out of the team and won as well,”- he added.
David Warner has made a strong comeback in the 15th edition of the Indian T20 League after he was dropped from the Hyderabad team following a controversy last year. Notably, the Hyderabad team management removed him from captaincy mid-season and also dropped him from the playing eleven. The Men in Orange did not retain him and he was picked up by Delhi in the mega-auctions of ITL 2022 and he is making important contributions to the team at the top order.
