Out of international cricket for 12 months, David Warner, the Sunrisers Hyderabad opener, has been short on cricket of the elite standard. But despite the constraint, he has already hit a purple patch in the Indian Premier League — he has scored two half-centuries and an unbeaten century in the three matches he has played so far.
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Recognising the difficulties he faced ahead of a comeback to top-flight cricket through the IPL, Tom Moody, the Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach, said, “I think we’ve seen over his career what makes him unique as a player. Yes, he’s had to sit out of top-flight cricket, international cricket, for 12 months. But David Warner has been preparing for six months, too, for his comeback. He’s played a couple of franchise tournaments over that 12-month period. He has obviously played club cricket in Sydney as well.
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"Okay, it’s not the same standard, but he’s been preparing more mentally and technically. His game technically is relatively sound, so it’s the case of getting him sorted mentally and he welcomed the start of this tournament and for him to get back on the horse, so to speak.”
Moody added: “[Mentally he is] in a very good place. He has come back full of enthusiasm, full of determination and with a lot to prove. One thing David Warner — and I think all top players are the same — they have got an unquenchable thirst for the game and to have success in the game. That thirst certainly hasn’t been withdrawn by any means.”
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Warner had to have a lot of resilience to return strongly, observed Moody. “He has always had a very positive mindset. As I mentioned the word determined, he is a very determined and resilient individual. I think to endure what he and [Steve] Smith and [Cameron Bancroft] had to endure over 12 months — there has to be a lot of mental toughness. There has to be a lot of resilience. And also a very positive mindset. You could very easily find yourself down for long periods of time,” he said.
With Warner’s excellence with bat, though, the middle order has hardly batted in the tourney so far. Moody expressed confidence in his middle-order batsmen to come good when they are required to step up. “It’s inevitable that there’s going to be opportunities and times when the middle order has got to carry a substantial amount of the workload in our batting. At the moment, we’ve been fortunate enough to have three hundred-run partnerships in a row at the top of the order. But we’ve got full confidence in our middle order. And our middle order has only been strengthened with the likes of Vijay Shankar coming back. So, I’m sure they are going to welcome the opportunity to accept the challenge when that presents [itself],” Moody said.
Commenting on the upcoming contest against Delhi Capitals at the Ferozeshah Kotla, he said, “We really feel Delhi is a really strong side. [A] well-rounded side as well. And there’s a challenge of different conditions. Playing here in Delhi, the adjustments you need to do with bat and ball that are important to be effective. Our focus is very much around that. [However,] what Delhi have done is not really that important. It’s not going to have any bearing on our preparations or the way we go about our business.”
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