David Warner: Everyone’s Favourite Punching Bag Of The IPL 2023!

If there were two cricketers, if not more, as seen in the ongoing edition of the IPL who could perhaps serve as the near perfect adjectives for being a punching bag, then perhaps Lucknow Supergiants captain KL Rahul and Delhi Capitals’ captain David Warner might play an apt fit.

They’ve been the subject of hilarious tweets, countless trolls and a seemingly endless string of diatribe given the rate at which they’ve been found scoring runs, of lately, hasn’t quite served their team well.

But what about David Warner is irking fans and perhaps pundits just as much?

Is it the runs? Is it the number of defeats? Or better yet, is it the manner of the defeats that one of the Indian Premier League’s vastly underwhelming sides is enduring as seen of late?

Delhi Capitals, who are currently second from the bottom on the IPL standings have endured a torrid run this season. Even the games where a victory was considered guaranteed, such as the contest against the Mumbai Indians, turned into a defeat, albeit on the final ball of the over.

But, could it be that what doesn’t occur to the constantly debating, needlessly trolling cricket fan for whom social media is the field of dreams, rather make that memes, is that David Warner cannot play the part of the other ten in his side.

And that on his own, he can do, what he can, at best do, which is to score runs as much and as frequently as possible.

Surely, where the Delhi Capitals are at this point in time leaves a massive scope for doubting the ability of their captain; David Warner really gelled well donning the orange of the Sunrisers but for Delhi, he’s been, quite simply, found wanting.

There’s very little that he has done to encourage the rest of the talented players in his side, whether one looks at an Axar Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Manish Pandey or Mitchell Marsh.

But where the runs are concerned, then David Warner cannot be ridiculed

They say that Cricket is what you do in your most recent performance, whether by bat or ball and to that extent, David Warner, who missed out scoring against SRH in his most recent outing with the bat was only able to score a 21 off 20 deliveries.

Yet, it is David Warner who turns out to be his listless outfit’s most successful batsman, having scored a total of 306 runs so far from 7 contests, but most noticeably, with the help of 4 half centuries.

Other captains, who’ve either scored just as many fifties, if not more and in some cases, not even what Warner’s managed happen to make more headlines.

Think Virat Kohli- who’s also scored four fifties and most noticeably, Rohit Sharma who has a solitary fifty to his name.

But why’s that?

The trouble with David Warner doesn’t make him the villain

It’s a no-brainer; for they happen to be part of teams that are, at least, winning and nowhere as deplorable in their execution of plans on the pitch as the Delhi Capitals.

The only real trouble that David Warner faces is that his runs are coming at a rather sluggish strike-rate, which when a 110 or a 120-125 doesn’t look good on the report card of a batsman who we happen to know has scored rather loftily in the previous editions.

But when a Rohit perishes early, he knows that the troika of Green, David and Tilak can score and most often do. Ditto for Kohli; who besides scoring a golden duck, has seen his regular captain Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell on a rampage this season.

Who does David Warner have to guide him to some sort of a comfort zone?

Surely, Axar Patel must be batting a lot higher up than he is at the moment. But can Axar do it on his own always? Is Mitchell Marsh in form? Just how many big scores have come from the bat of Sarfaraz Khan.

And truth be told, the less spoken about Prithvi Shaw, the better, isn’t it?

So under these circumstances, given not an awful lot is going right for Warner, is it fair to put the mountain of the blame on a solitary figure knowing well that this sport, at the end of the day, is a team game?