Australia opener David Warner had a great time in IPL 2019 for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Returning to cricket after serving the ball-tampering ban, Warner finished the cash-rich event as the highest run-getter with 692 runs from 12 games, including 1 century and 8 fifties.
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Apart from the attacking batting, the southpaw also grabbed the headlines for his healthy camaraderie at the top of the order with England’s Jonny Bairstow. The pair shared four 100+ partnerships in the T20 tournament while their 185-run stand against RCB was the highest opening partnership in the history of IPL.
In a chat with Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz, Warner reflected on his duet with Bairstow and said: "It was really bizarre because me and Jonny, we've never played with each other or against each other. We didn't really know each other off the field. But as soon as we had the first net session and the first hit out, it was almost like we knew each other's game so well. The best thing about our combination, that I knew deep down, was how fast we are between wickets."
"We just knew that if we bat the way we did in the first six - like we normally do - and then once the field goes out, we can pinch the odd one or two. If we can rotate strike, it's going to frustrate a lot of people. I look back at the RCB game, I think (there were) 21 or 22 twos (during the partnership). It was frustrating the crap out of Virat. When Virat went out to field at midwicket, we were running twos to him. The thing is, when you've got that instinct anyone can do that. When you're batting so well with someone, and gel well, you can turn ones into twos quite easily," he added.
'You almost love to hate them' is how Warner demonstrated the relationship between Australian and English cricketers. But franchise cricket is something that has brought them closer.
"It's one of those things where you go, 'I don't want to be friends with this person because we're just against each other," said Warner. "But in today's environment, with IPL and all this franchise (cricket), there's going to be a place and a time where you are going to be potentially playing with these people. You don't really have the time anymore to not be friends. You have to be mates away from the game. That's just how it is."
"But when you walk out there and you're representing your country, that (friendship) goes out of the window. It's more of a 'alright, you know we're mates off the field but this is how we're going to play'. That's one thing that stands out with Virat especially. You see the passion that he has on the field and we love that. But you know you're always going to get in the contest with him. And that's the beauty of the game," he further remarked.
