IPL 2023: David Warner 'putting pressure on himself and team,' says Chris Gayle

Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) star Chris Gayle has not hesitated to criticise Delhi Capitals (DC) captain David Warner, saying he is not only putting pressure on himself but also on the rest of his team.

In regards to Warner's recent struggles to score at a higher pace, Gayle said that 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) champion is experienced enough to overcome his mistakes and resolve his problem soon.

While Warner is currently second in the Orange Cap list in the underway IPL 2023, having scored 209 runs in four matches, but the Australian batter has scored runs at a strike-rate just a little over 110 and this has been a cause for concern for DC, who are the only side to not have registered a win this season.

On Tuesday, Delhi recorded their fourth straight loss in IPL 2023 as they lost by six wickets to Mumbai Indians (MI) at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.

Before the game against MI, DC lost early wickets in their innings, with Prithvi Shaw also not scoring enough runs, and during such scenarios, Warner was forced to step up and play the anchor's role. However, on Wednesday, the Delhi skipper appeared to struggle to get going even when he finally had a batter scoring freely on the other end, in this case, it was Manish Pandey.

After MI off-spinner Hrithik Shokeen dismissed Shaw for 15 off 10 deliveries, Warner and Pandey put up 43 runs for the second wicket before the latter was caught by Jason Behrendorff off Piyush Chawla's bowling in the ninth over. That triggered a small collapse for the hosts before all-rounder Axar Patel came at No. 7 and scored a quick-fire 54 off 25 balls.

Even during the death overs, when DC wanted somebody to accelerate their innings, Warner failed to do so and was eventually dismissed for 47-ball 51 in the 19th over. He hit six fours, but he managed to score runs at a poor strike-rate of 108.51.

"In the first 6 overs, he showed a bit of intent and tried to be positive there. The wicket was very good to bat on in the powerplay. But he is putting a lot of pressure on himself and the other players as well. Players feel they have to come in when he is not getting to ball away, they pretty much have to go from ball one and that is causing Delhi a lot of problems in the middle," Gayle told Jio Cinema.

"So that's something he needs to work on. He is experienced enough to know what to do. He spoke about it in the previous game," the West Indian added.

David Warner is working on rectifying mistakes: Axar Patel

Meanwhile, DC's bowling all-rounder Axar also spoke about Warner's problems, saying the Aussie has been trying his best, but things aren't going his way so far in the campaign.

"Even when he is trying, it's not coming off. Everyone spoke to him - Ricky, (Shane) Watson, Dada. The conversation about his strike rate also came up. They looked at his videos and he's working on it," Axar said.

After Delhi's latest fixture, Warner heaped praise on Axar, saying the Indian cricketer should bat in the top four considering the way he has been striking the ball.

"You look at the last three IPL games we have witnessed, they have been amazing. Wrong end of it today, but the guys were fantastic. Rohit played a fantastic knock at the top of the order. Nortje is world-class and that's what we expect from him, Mustafiz too. Timmy David was on the wrong side of it, so I tried to keep it at stump-height. I think from the last three games, we've had some positives but we shouldn't lose wickets in clumps.

"Axar should bat in the top four the way he is striking the ball. From the last three games we have played, there are a lot of positives," added Warner.

DC's next game is an away fixture against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Saturday.