NEW DELHI: David Warner, the captain of the Delhi Capitals, has challenged his young Indian batsmen to develop their own strategies to deal with express pace because it is a skill that cannot be taught. Warner, DC's highest runscorer with 285 from six games, performed the star turn on Thursday night with his fourth half-century, which was mainly to blame for his team's first IPL triumph.
However, Indian batters have cut a sorry figure as Prithvi Shaw (47 from 6 games), Sarfaraz Khan (34 from 2 games), Yash Dhull (3 from 2 games), Aman Khan (30 from 4), Abhishek Porel (33 from 4 games) have all had issues against pace and spin. “To be honest, we don’t have too many discussions as you have to back your skills and I can’t tell people how to bat. You have to actually work it out,” Warner was very straight in his reply when asked if he has had conversations with Shaw and company.Technique is an individual aspect of anyone’s game. “If you have to face fast bowling and guys who are bowling 150 kmph, you got to have technique and method to score.
If they keep coming at you and bowl into your rib-cage, you have to find a way how to score and if you can get one boundary, then they will start bowling into your areas,” said the Australia international and multiple World Cup winner. Warner gave an interesting theory about playing the short ball. “In the nets ,it is very difficult to practice (short pitched bowling) and even in Australia we don’t practice playing short balls. It’s my feeling that if you practice short ball all the time in the nets, you become tentative in match. “It’s a reaction skill you have to remember. The bowler gets to bowl only one (short ball) max per over. That’s a good thing for batters.” Ditto for spinner Varun Chakravarthy, whom Warner played with ease but none of the younger Indian batters were able to read well.
