“When you lose 3 wickets in 2 overs, what would you do?” - David Warner responds to criticism surrounding his strike rate

Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper David Warner has opened up on the criticism around his strike rate in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Putting down his subdued batting efforts to frequent loss of wickets at the other end, Warner opined that he needed to take some responsibility.

While the Australian cricketer has been among the runs in IPL 2023, his scoring rate has been a matter of big debate. On Thursday, April 20, he batted with a lot more authority as DC chased down 128 against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

The left-handed batter struck 11 fours in his 57 off 41 balls as Delhi registered their first win of IPL 2023 with a four-wicket triumph over Kolkata. Speaking at a post-match press conference, Warner shared his views on the criticism over his strike rate in IPL 2023 and commented:

“There’s going to be a lot of critiques out there to suggest that I haven’t been batting the way I normally bat. But when you lose three wickets in a row in two overs and I have faced three balls what would you do? You can’t do anything. You have some sense of responsibility.

“In Bangalore, When I got out, and I guarantee you, people would have been criticizing me for getting out but that’s just the game; that’s how it is.”

While Warner played a fine knock against KKR, DC lost their way in the chase and stumbled to 111/6. Handy cameos from Manish Pandey (21 off 23) and Axar Patel (19* off 22) took DC home in 19.2 overs.

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“I felt like I have my rhythm back again” - David Warner

Reflecting on his impressive half-century against Kolkata, Warner asserted that he felt in good rhythm, adding that not losing wickets in a cluster helped.

The 36-year-old stated:

“Today I felt like my matchups were there, and I will take the powerplay on and we didn’t lose wickets in clumps in the first two overs. I felt like I have my rhythm back again, I had a good couple of net sessions. I felt like I was probably a bit tentative after losing wickets in the first couple of games but for me, it was about going there and playing the way I do and the way I know.”

Praising his bowlers, Warner said that they did an amazing job. He commented:

“Our bowlers bowled absolutely amazing and were exceptional. I don’t think that was a 130 wicket. That looked like probably 160 and 165 kind of wicket.”

Ishant Sharma, Anrich Nortje, Axar, and Kuldeep Yadav all claimed two scalps apiece as DC bowled out KKR for 127.