‘Different standards for Kohli?': Pathan's critical Warner remark starts Twitter war after DC vs MI IPL match

Irfan Pathan's critical tweet on David Warner sparked a debate on social media after DC vs MI IPL 2023 match which Mumbai Indians won.

With scores of 56, 37, 65 and 51, David Warner is the highest run-scorer for Delhi Capitals by some distance in IPL 2023. His tally of 209 runs also puts him in the race for the Orange Cap awarded to the highest run-scorer of IPL. But have his runs really helped DC? It doesn't appear so as the team suffered their fourth straight loss of the season to languish at the bottom of the IPL 2023 points table. Warner's strike rate of 114 is the real problem here. Despite scoring three half-centuries in four matches and staying in the middle for more than 15 overs on three occasions, the DC captain has not been able to accelerate at any point in the game. To top it all, Warner is the only player in the 16th edition of the IPL to have scored more than a 100 runs without hitting a single six.

Delhi Capitals batter David Warner plays a shot during the IPL 2023 cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians (PTI)

Even against MI, Warner batted till the 19th over but managed to hit only six boundaries, scoring at a dismal strike rate of 108. The result was telling as DC could manage to kick on and put up a big total on the board despite Axar Patel's valiant 54 off 25 balls.

While there has been a lot of talk around Virat Kohli and KL Rahul's strike rates and Rohit Sharma's form, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes the chatter around Warner's strike rate has not been enough. After DC slumped to another close defeat against five-time champions MI on Wednesday, Irfan took to Twitter to raise questions about Warner's batting approach.

"How come no one pointing out strike rate of David Warner?? He is been playing with low strike for quite sometime now…," Irfan tweeted.

Irfan's tweet sparked a debate. A few pointed out that Warner's strike rate has been discussed a lot by experts on-air and also by fans on social media while others said it was nothing compared to the heat Rahul or Kohli received.

Here are some of the comments on Irfan Pathan's tweet on David Warner

DC's 172 was not enough as Tim David and Cameron Green showed impeccable finishing skills to steal MI's maiden victory of the season on the last ball of the match.

With the pitch on the drier side compared to the first game here and finger spinners getting plenty of assistance from it, Mumbai Indians had a tricky task at hand but with his classy 65 off 45 balls, Rohit helped his side record their first win of the season.

With Cameron Green (17 not out off 8) and Tim David (13 not out off 11) in the middle, Mumbai needed five runs off the last over but Anrich Nortje bowled brilliantly to take the game down to the very last ball. David got the required two off the final ball after putting in a full-length dive to beat Warner's throw.

Promoted to number three, the in-form Tilak Varma came up with a crucial 41 off 29 balls and forged a 68-run stand with skipper Rohit.

It was a much-needed win for Mumbai after back-to-back defeats while the season got worse for Delhi who suffered their fourth loss in as many games.