AUS vs SL | Very important to assess situation and play accordingly, stresses David Warner

The world has witnessed a different David Warner after his return from the ban. The southpaw has shown willingness to take more responsibility for the team with his shot selection and behaviour on and off the pitch, the first instance of which was seen in his IPL comeback as he amassed 692 runs in just 10 innings at an average of 143.86.

His knocks were more about hitting sensible shots than just blazing through bowling attacks and after a forgettable Ashes, it didn't take the 33-year-old more than a single match to turn things around. Warner tore through the Lankan bowlers to score his maiden T20I century and in the process, help Australia to a 134-run victory. The left-hander spoke about the importance of assessing the match situation and playing accordingly.

"It's not a conscious effort. But if he (Finch) gets three or four away, and I get only one ball at the other end, then I've only faced a couple of balls. It's very hard to get rhythm. If I get the ball there that I can put away, I can obviously do that. But you've obviously got to play that situation,” Warner told Cricbuzz.

"If he's hit two or three boundaries and gets off the strike, you've already won the over. There's no need for me to go hammer and tongs. I can just play the way I do and get him on strike and that's how it pans out. It always pans out like that because he goes very hard and clears the fence a bit more than I do," he further added.

He nicely settled in first and played risk-free cricket. His first maximum came off a free hit which also revealed a thing or two about his low-risk approach. After Finch’s wicket, Maxwell continued the mayhem from one end despite playing second fiddle, Warner managed to get to a 100 in just 56 balls. He pointed out the importance of picking the gaps and running hard picking twos and threes due to the big grounds in Australia.

"That's the element to our game here in Australia if you want to win the World Cup next year, you've got to run really hard between the wickets. We've got big boundaries here,” said Warner.

“There're going to be very good wickets so as batters you don't need to over-hit the ball here in Australia. As I said before, it's about running and picking the gaps," he added.

The ease with which Warner was flicking the ball for a six over mid-wicket is something that he feels IPL has helped him. Due to smaller boundaries in IPL, Warner’s lions share of runs have come in boundaries and sixes.

"It's something I play quite often, especially in India given the boundaries are quite smaller there on some sides. It's something you've always got to have in mind because a lot of bowlers are now bowling to the left-hander's hips for example. You're going to get a lot of that in the game. So you try and practice it. One thing from a batter's point of view is you have to commit to your shot, then your timing will come into it," he said.