NEW DELHI: Although anchor batters may not have been as important in the current IPL because of the flat decks available, opener
David Warner
of the Delhi Capitals believes that these players would be crucial in the World T20 in the
Caribbean
, where slow turners will put every batter to the test.
Virat Kohli
and
KL Rahul
of India are examples of players who take an old-school approach to the game, building an innings before going all out, but players who play from start to finish, like as Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen,
Jos Buttler
, and Jake-Fraser McGurk, are just unstoppable.
Warner gave a negative response when asked if the IPL batting pattern might be applied to the World T20.
"They (pitches in West Indies) can be slower and they're gonna turn a bit. I don't think they're going to be as compact as they are here. You know, I've played a lot of cricket over there. I've played in the CPL. The wickets tend to get a little bit lower and slower," Warner said while replying to a PTI query.
"Even when we played there in 2010 World Cup, the pitches there weren't high scoring. That's when you did need an anchor. Someone like Mike Hussey came out and scored runs for us. He had to come and sort of knock it around," Warner said while recalling the 2010 edition where Australia finished runners-up.
"It's gonna be completely different there. Add the natural elements as well. There's going to be predominantly day games. I think because of the timing. So that plays a big a big factor.
"So the ball definitely will not be swinging like here at least in India. Here for first four or five overs, the ball can swing and could be challenging so. The pitches in Caribbean being dry, the ball will get roughed up and it's going to spin," the dashing left-hander said.
Small boundaries, flat wickets, you can hardly do anything
With
Abhishek Sharma
scoring 46 off 12 balls, Jake-Fraser McGurk completing 50 off 15 balls and Travis Head scoring his 100 off just 39 balls, Warner feels that unless there are a good conducive bowling conditions like one gets in Test matches across the globe, "good bowlers won't be able to get good batters out".
Hyderabad's top three scores this season are 287, 277 and 266, which is an indicator of the complete evolution of T20 batsmanship.
"The wickets have been very good. They've been very flat, very compact and very high-scoring. And when you got small boundaries, you're going to see very high scores," he was straight in his observation.
"It's not just Bengaluru (Chinnaswamy) anymore (which is a flat track). Calcutta's (Eden Gardens) is flat. Back in the day, there used to be turn (on offer) and you couldn't get those scores. It was very difficult. Also the lacquer on the ball is staying longer and hence it's not getting chewed up (scuffed up) and hence very little turn on offer."
"Look at our venue last year. I think there was only one game where there was a 200-plus score. So when you get good surfaces with small boundaries and very good players, you're gonna see high totals and it's hard for the bowlers because you know, as a bowler, if you pitch the ball up, it goes back over your head and it becomes hard after that first six," Warner had a lot of sympathy for 'Bowlers' Union'.
"Jake and Porel impressed me the most"
When Warner was asked to name two stand-out players for DC, he named countryman Jake-Fraser and young keeper-batter
Abhishek
Porel, who has often come in as an 'Impact Substitute'.
"Well, Jake's been very good. We know he's always had the talent. Abhishek Porel has been outstanding. The opportunity he had in the first game (vs Punjab Kings) to come out, it was as an Impact Player.
"He wasn't even going to play. I think in 9 balls or something, he got 30 (32 not out in 10 balls). I think he's going to be a very good player.
(With PTI inputs)
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