Bengaluru, April 13 Delhi Capitals' assistant coach Shane Watson stated he will be "blown away" if skipper David Warner doesn't set the IPL alight in the rest of the season, adding that the veteran left-handed opener is very close to being at his aggressive best with the bat.
Warner has hit three half-centuries in four games for Delhi, amassing 209 runs at an average of 52.25. But those runs have come at a sluggish strike rate of 114.83 and Warner is yet to hit a six in the competition, having struggled to accelerate the scoring rate for Delhi.
On Tuesday, Warner was seen punching his bat in frustration after making a 43-ball half-century in Delhi's six-wicket loss to Mumbai Ind, their fourth defeat in as many matches this season.
"The other night (on Tuesday against Mumbai Ind), Dave definitely had a lot more fearless mindset with the way he was batting. He was taking the game on… yes, he missed a few balls that in the past he would have hit for four or six. He's mis-hit a couple of balls, but that's all part of Dave just working through the technical side of his game."
"That's also part of my role as well, as a coach. Because I know Dave so well from batting with him and playing with him, there are one or two little things that I know he'll get right over the next couple of days and I'll be blown away if he doesn't yes, he's been scoring runs, but from a scoring perspective if he doesn't set the IPL alight from now on, knowing that he's so close."
"He's batting very nicely. He's just mis-hitting some balls that he'd normally hit for four or six. Once you do that, once you start really finding the middle of your bat, then your scoring rate just goes through the roof," elaborated Watson on 'The Grade Cricketer' podcast.
During the tournament, Warner also became the fastest player to reach 6,000 runs in his IPL career and Watson also revealed that the opener is trying to find his way out of the dilemma of taking a risk when wickets are falling from the other end.
"His strike rate across his career in the IPL is nearly 140. He's been a great player in the IPL for a long period. That (taking risk or not) has always been a challenging inner battle as it goes against a lot of the things that you're taught as a kid growing up. You lose a wicket, you've got to establish a partnership - even in T20 cricket - for five or six balls."
"But then, if you do that and you keep losing wickets after five or six balls before you know it, you're three overs down and you've just been rotating ones to try and build a partnership. Dave was just working through that himself in the first few games," he added.
With Delhi at the bottom of the points table after four consecutive losses, Saturday's match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium holds the key for them to make a turnaround in their campaign. Watson said all-rounder Mitchell Marsh will be available for the match after missing the last two games due to his wedding back home in Perth.
"It's never perfect when you lose your first four games. But that is the beauty of having someone with the skill of Ricky Ponting as a coach, and just his understanding of people. That's the beauty of being a coach, to be able to help the guys where they need it, whether its skill-wise or mentally."
"At the Delhi Capitals, we have to turn it around. Mitch Marsh is back after his wedding and will be raring to go. These are the times when you really see the true colours of people and coaches when things aren't going well. It's a true sign of character: how you can work through the little things that are not going how we want them to, to turn them around and be more consistent," he concluded.
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