IPL 2019 | We are not treating David Warner differently, says Sandeep Sharma
BCCI
Sandeep Sharma has stated that Sunrisers Hyderabad does not treat David Warner differently and nothing has changed after his comeback into the team post the ball tampering scandal. The pacer from Patiala has also said that he is unfazed by the presence of other talented seamers in the team.
David Warner and Steve Smith were banned for a period of one year for their involvement in the ball tampering scandal of 2018 that shook Australian cricket. However, Warner made a return to the Sunrisers Hyderabad camp this year and made everyone take
“It is great to have David Warner back in the team. Everyone knows how good he is and it is brilliant to have him in the dressing room. He has been a great performer for Sunrisers in the past seasons and in the last match, he showed once again why he is regarded so highly in white ball cricket,” said Sunrisers Hyderabad fast bowler Sandeep Sharma, reported Hindustan Times.
“We are not thinking about what happened last year and we are not treating him any differently. Nothing has changed for him or for any of us in the team."
In the first match of his season against Kolkata Knight Riders, Sandeep was taken apart by Nitish Rana. He gave away 42 runs and could only manage to scalp Dinesh Karthik for two runs in their season opener at the Eden Gardens.
“Personally, it was not that great. It was the first game of the season and as a result, the nerves were there and it was showing in our performance. Things didn't really go our way. But, we reflected on our mistakes and we will be looking to execute our plans better in the upcoming matches,” said the 25-year-old.
The Orange Army were hoping for a comfortable win as the Dinesh Karthik-led side required 53 runs off the last three overs. However, Andre Russell changed the complexion of the match as he smashed an unbeaten 49 off just 19 balls. Even Bhuvneshwar Kumar looked clueless as he was brutally hit for 21 runs in the 19th over.
“I don’t think things went wrong for us. We know how amazing a batsman Andre Russell is but you won’t see an innings like that
The Sunrisers’ traditional strength has always been the bowling and even in this edition, along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, they possess many young and talented fast bowlers like Billy Stanlake, Siddharth Kaul, Basil Thampi and T Natarajan.
“I think that the competition is a good thing for all of us. When you have so many good bowlers in the same squad, your standard goes higher and that is also great news for the team,” expressed the former U-19 World Cup champion.
Sharma has been playing in the cash-rich league for a while now. He had an overwhelming debut season in 2013, in which he had scalped eight wickets in four matches and then followed it up with 18 wickets in 11 matches in the next season. Currently, he has 84 wickets to his name in 69 IPL matches.
“With the old ball, the toughest batsmen I have played against are MS Dhoni and AB de Villiers. When it comes to the new ball, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli,” signed off Sharma.
