David Warner recalled the game against RCB where his partnership with Jonny Bairstow frustrated Virat Kohli.
Many cricketers have said in the past that the Indian Premier League (IPL) has helped bridge the gap of communication between international players. As more players from different nationalities come together to play for a single franchise, the friendships grow. Australia's David Warner, who plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the tournament, too believes that the IPL has helped set a friendly equation with many cricketers, including England's Jonny Bairstow.
Australia and England may be traditional rivals, but at SRH, Warner and Bairstow enjoyed an impressive opening partnership on a number of occasions. In the 2019 season alone, the duo had four century-partnerships.
"It was really bizarre because me and Jonny, we’ve never played with each other or against each other. We didn’t really know each other off the field," said Warner in a conversation with Harsha Bhogle for Cricbuzz.
"But as soon as we had the first net session and the first hit out, it was almost like we knew each other’s game so well. The best thing about our combination, that I knew deep down, was how fast we are between wickets."
Talking about one of the games in the 2019 season against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Warner revealed that they were taking doubles so easily that it frustrated RCB captain Virat Kohli.
"We just knew that if we bat the way we did in the first six - like we normally do - and then once the field goes out, we can pinch the odd one or two. If we can rotate strike, it’s going to frustrate a lot of people," said Warner.
"I look back at the RCB game, I think (there were) 21 or 22 twos (during the partnership). It was frustrating the crap out of Virat. When Virat went out to field at midwicket, we were running twos to him.
"The thing is, when you’ve got that instinct anyone can do that. When you’re batting so well with someone, and gel well, you can turn ones into twos quite easily."
Talking about the India and RCB captain, Warner insisted that he is quite intense on the field, but off-the-field, they're friends. He also said that one 'doesn't really have time anymore to not be friends' with anyone, because the person might be a teammate in future.
"It’s one of those things where you go, ‘I don’t want to be friends with this person because we’re just against each other,” said Warner.
“But in today’s environment, with IPL and all this franchise (cricket), there’s going to be a place and a time where you are going to be potentially playing with these people. You don’t really have the time anymore to not be friends. You have to be mates away from the game. That’s just how it is.
"But when you walk out there and you’re representing your country, that (friendship) goes out of the window. It’s more of a ‘alright, you know we’re mates off the field but this is how we’re going to play’.
"That’s one thing that stands out with Virat especially. You see the passion that he has on the field and we love that. But you know you’re always going to get in the contest with him. And that’s the beauty of the game."
