It wasn't a great start for David Warner's return to captaincy in Indian Premier League (IPL) after two years as Delhi Capitals were thrashed by Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium in Saturday. Warner scored a half-century during Delhi's chase of 194, but it wasn't enough as England pacer Mark Wood rattled the DC batting line-up with his five-wicket haul. Warner, however, remained upbeat over the team's return to home for the next IPL 2023 match, but was silenced by a tongue-in-cheek remark from India legend Sunil Gavaskar.
It will be homecoming for Delhi when they play their next game against defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi and Warner is excited to be back at the venue donning the DC jersey. In fact, the Australia opener was asked by former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull on what he expects at the ground in New Delhi and Warner recalled what it felt playing at the venue back in 2011 when he last played for the franchise in IPL before shifting base to Sunrisers Hyderabad. But Gavaskar gave an epic response to Warner's statement, reminding him of the Border-Gavaskar Test series and the match in New Delhi last month where Australia had lost following a horror collapse.
Here is how the conversation unfolded...
Warner: "We go back to Delhi in front of our home crowd. I know it's a batting wicket. The last time, I was there in Delhi back in 2011, it was low and slow. Now I saw a bit of green grass on that surface. There will be a bit of dew in the night. If we can get an all-round good wicket, it would be fantastic."
Gavaskar: "David last time you were there in Delhi in 2011-12? You were there last month!"
Warner: "Yeah, I know that. That was a different pitch, it was a red ball. Let's forget that."
The Aussie was silenced and then burst into laughter and Doull interrupted and then ended the conversation saying, “Sunny is being cheeky here.”
Delhi will only a day's time to prepare for their next match as they play their home game against GT on April 4.