Sehwag to Warner: 'Don't come to IPL if you can't score 25-ball fifties'

Delhi Capitals languished to the bottom of the table with a third straight defeat in IPL 2023 on Saturday. In response to a colossal target of 200, set by Rajasthan Royals on a batting-friendly Guwahati track, Delhi only managed to crawl to 142 runs, hence succumbing to a concerning 57-run loss which simultaneously affected their net run rate as well. 

Batting legend Virender Sehwag and former India cricketer Rohan Gavaskar lashed out at DC skipper David Warner for the loss after his sluggish knock of 65 off 55.

Trent Boult inflicted a horror start for Delhi as he dismissed both Prithvi Shaw and Manish Pandey in successive deliveries in the opening over. Rilee Rossouw too failed to provide Warner with any support as he departed before the end of the powerplay.

DC skipper then combined with Lalit Yadav to stitch a 64-run stand but while the latter looked the more aggressive one, Warner, who was well settled by then, failed to change his gears while the asking rate putting more and more pressure on the visitors. Warner eventually completed his fifty and reached the milestone of 6000 runs, but the lower order succumbed under pressure as RR restricted DC to just 142 for nine.

Furious as Warner's knock, Sehwag, in conversation with Cricbuzz after Delhi's loss, gave an ultimatum to the Aussie, asking him to either take a leaf out of players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a thundering fifty in RR's win, or not play in IPL.

"I feel it is time that we tell him in English now so that Warner listens to it and feels hurt. David, if you are listening, please play well. Score 50 in 25 balls. Learn from Jaiswal, he hit in 25 balls. If you cannot do that, do not come and play in the IPL," Sehwag said.

"It would have been better for the team if David Warner got out for 30 runs, rather than making 55-60. Players like Rovman Powell and Ishan Porel could have come out much earlier and maybe could have done anything. No balls were left for those players, and they are big hitters in team," he added.

Former India cricketer Gavaskar, who was part of the panel, also fumed at Warner, saying that had it been any young Indian cricketer, it would have been his last game in IPL.

"If you are dismissed for 8 off 8, one can say okay he couldn't find that rhythm. But you are the captain here, you have that experience. They showed that he was the fastest to 6000 IPL runs so you can never imagine him playing these knocks. David Warner would have been retired hurt by Delhi Capitals if he was not their captain. If this was a young Indian player, his tournament would have been over. It would have been his last match. Warner has to take responsibility for this loss," he said.