With his dreams of leading his country shredded by SandpaperGate, David Warner’s leadership skills haven’t been on view for a while. Rishabh Pant’s unfortunate injury has given him an opportunity he thought he might never have again.
It was around 6AM on May 30, 2016, a Monday morning, and David Warner was about to leave the hotel for the airport in Bengaluru. He had a 10 AM flight for New York, where he would finally meet his wife Candice and two daughters, Ivy and Indi, after a month and a half. Soon after he was in the car, he called to say, “It has not sunk in yet you know. That we could beat Bangalore in Bangalore and win the IPL. They are a great team. I feel overwhelmed. Everyone was ready to give it their all. We are IPL Champions.”
Words were just flowing like the way the runs did for Warner in April-May 2016.
I asked him to go back in time to June 2013 and tell me if all of this felt real? Down and out after the Joe Root PunchGate controversy, in Birmingham, Warner was on the cusp of giving it all up and going away. “The question was should I leave as cricket’s bad boy, or should I try and do everything I could to make a comeback and play for my country for another 10 years”, he said. Suspended by Cricket Australia and banished from England midway into the tour, Warner, in 2013, seemed completely lost. A horrible tour of India and an average IPL only added to his woes and everything seemed to fall apart that night in Birmingham.
Once he was back in Sydney and united with Candice Falzon, then girlfriend and now wife, David had to take a real harsh career call – it was then or never for him. Candice, a strict disciplinarian and an elite sportsperson herself, took the lead in reigniting the self-belief in Warner. David, never an early riser, started getting up at 5 AM everyday to go out and train. He would not miss training for anything and within months, the results were evident. England was touring Australia for the Ashes and Warner, to everyone’s surprise, played like a man possessed in all the five Test matches of the series.
The remarkable improvement continued over the next one year and more and immediately after Michael Clarke’s retirement, Warner was rewarded with the Australian vice-captaincy. For him, this was a huge breakthrough. It was acceptability in the pantheon of Australian cricket legends and Warner, who had always wanted to make this giant leap, was finally there. And again, it was all taken away.
SandpaperGate was David’s worst hour. Labelled a cheat and banned, he was at his lowest. “There is media every single day in front of the house, mate, and the children can’t go out”, he would say. His voice could barely be heard. And for the first time, I could sense self-doubt in David. Could he make yet one more comeback? Could he lead again? Could he get back the credibility?
He did. Since coming back to international cricket, he has played with distinction for Australia. Played 100 Test matches. He is in that elite list of men who have a century of Test caps. And yet, he is unfulfilled. Australia did not treat him well and never will he captain his country again. It was one thing Warner missed and he had almost sort of accepted that he would never captain a side again.
That’s when the Delhi news came. With Rishabh Pant out after the unfortunate accident last December, Delhi turned to Warner. Believed in him. Invested in his leadership ability. With Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly there, they knew what they were doing. And for David, it is a lifeline. To show what he is capable of as leader.
Leading a mediocre team in the absence of Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra, Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad started poorly in IPL 2016. Losing the first couple of games, Warner felt the ghost of IPL 2015 was coming back to haunt him. “I can’t forget that catch, you know,” he said, recalling the 2015 nightmare. “I had it all under control before I stepped over the line.” The only way he could forget was by winning the IPL, and if the first couple of matches were any indication, he was far from achieving his goal.
And then the David Warner story started to unfold. Batting like a champion, Warner started to lead by example. He got the best out of Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, and in Mustafizur Rehman, he had a trump card that he had to use well.
However, just a formidable unit wouldn’t be enough to take RCB on. And no one knew that better than Warner. He had to surprise RCB and play to his strengths. He had to be proactive and not reactive. He did so by winning the toss and batting first. To everyone’s surprise, he was willing to let RCB chase and was willing to let his bowlers defend against the likes of Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers and Chris Gayle. And that’s when Warner the batsman came to the fore one final time. A brilliant 69 set the tone and Sunrisers managed to score 208, which, despite Gayle and Virat’s heroics, RCB were unable to chase down. And in victory, Warner showed his evolution. It was never him, it was always ‘we the team’.
Can he do it one final time? Delhi has never won the IPL. They have come close but never managed to cross the line. Without Pant, the task is harder. Can Warner lead them to an IPL title as leader? Knowing David well, I know what he will say. He will laugh and say something like this, “Who knows mate? But one thing is you will see me try 500 percent on the field. And I will ensure the boys do the same. Each one of them mean the world to me, and as their captain it is my duty to protect and inspire them. Trust me they will be better players at the end of the tournament.” In doing this, he could well make history for Delhi. Win the IPL. The David Warner story will then be complete. And he will say in Hindi, “Mazaa aa gaya”. Wish him all the best.