Familiarity will take not the edge away from competitive series: Warner

NEW DELHI: Delhi Daredevils’ David Warner, who made his battling maiden Test century for Australia and was named man of the match against New Zealand at Hobart on Monday, is looking forward to being selected to play the coming Test series against India and expects it to be a most competitive series.

“It was nice to get to the milestone of a Test hundred but it was disappointing not to be able to help Australia over the line,” he said from Hobart, hoping that the century and the show of character would secure him a place in the Australian side against India. “The Boxing Day Test match is always special and, more so, against India. Hopefully we can play well,”  he said.

Warner recalled that there was much intensity during India’s last tour of Australia and does not expect the coming series to be very different. “That some of us have played in DLF Indian Premier League over the last four years will surely help the players understand one another better but I don’t think that this familiarity will take the edge away when we are on the field,” he said.

“Lots of things were going on when India toured Australia the last time in 2007-08 but that is what makes cricket. Everyone likes to play very seriously and that alone should ensure that none changes the attitude on the field. There are always a couple of players who like to chat up a bit and get under people’s skins,” he said.

The 25-year-old from Paddington fondly remembered the encouragement he has received from Delhi Daredevils captain and India star Virender Sehwag and other team-mates over the last three years.

“Playing for Delhi Daredevils has obviously helped me as I worked with a set of world class players like Sehwag, Daniel Vettori, Glenn McGrath and others like GG (Gautam Gambhir), Morne Morkel, Ashish Nehra and Dinesh Karthik. They have all egged me on with their comments and feedback and that has allowed me to mature as a player,” he said.

“I will not forget how when I joined Delhi Daredevils, Sehwag told me that I would be a better Test cricketer than a Twenty20 player when I had not yet played first class cricket. When I asked him how he could predict that, Sehwag shared his theory of how everyone would be in the slips and I could play my shots freely,” Warner said.

Warner was spotted by the Delhi Daredevils scouts TA Sekar and Aashish Kapoor at the Emerging Players tournament in Australia in July 2008. He has scored 769 runs for Delhi Daredevils in 31 DLF Indian Premier League matches including a highest of 107 not out off just 69 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders in Delhi in March 2010 and five half centuries. He is looking forward to returning to Delhi in April for the 2012 season.