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Former Australian cricketer Shane Watson has expressed confidence in the batting performance of his ex-mate and Delhi Capitals skipper David Warner in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
Shane Watson, who is Delhi Capitals coach, said that Warner will start finding the middle of your bat as he sets a few things right. "The other night, Dave [Warner] definitely had a [much] more fearless mindset with the way he was batting," Watson was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "He was taking the game on... yes, he missed a few balls that in the past he would have hit for four or six, he's mis-hit a couple of balls, but that's all part of Dave just working through the technical side of his game," Watson added. Warner has scored 209 runs in four matches with three half-centuries; However, his slow strike rate of 114.84 has been a point of concern for the team. The Australian opener is known for his explosive batting at the start of the innings but in this year's IPL Warner has displayed a different game style by playing a little slow and steady. Delhi Capitals Batting Coach believes that Warner would give a fiery start. "That's also part of my role as well, as a coach. Because I know Dave so well from batting with him and playing with him, 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," Watson said. "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," he added. In the last match against Mumbai Indians, Warner had scored a half-century but his strike rate was 108.51. Also, till now he has failed to hit a single six. Watson said Warner's strike rate across his career in the IPL is nearly 140 and "he's been a great player in the IPL for a long period of time". "But then, if you do that and you keep losing wickets after five or six balls, before you know it, you're three overs down and you've just been rotating ones to try and build a partnership. Dave was just working through that himself in the first few games." Watson also pointed on the pressure that warner would be going through after his team lost all four games they played. "It's never perfect when you lose your first four games," Watson said Praising Ricky Ponting's coaching skills, Watson said that he understands players and therefore he is able to help whenever players need it. "That is the beauty of having someone with the skill of Ricky Ponting as a coach, and just his understanding of people. That's the beauty of being a coach, to be able to help the guys where they need it," he said. "These are the times when you really see the true colours of people and coaches when things aren't going well. It's a true sign of character: how you can work through the little things that are not going how we want them to, to turn them around and be more consistent," he added. (ANI)
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