This will be the second time Warner will lead Capitals, having been the interim captain for a couple of matches during the last year of his first stint with the franchise between 2009 and 2013 (Delhi Daredevils back then). Warner was bought by Sunrirsers Hyderabad in 2014 and appointed the captain a year later. In 2016, Warner took Sunrisers to the title. Warner is the joint-fifth most successful captain, in terms of matches won: in 69 matches he led, Warner’s teams won 35, lost 32, and tied two matches.
Captaincy never burdened Warner the batter and numbers support that claim: he has 2840 runs at an average of 47.33 and a strike rate of 142.28 with one century and 26 fifties. Ironically, though, it was his weak batting form in the first half of the 2021 IPL that forced Sunrisers to bench him, before he was replaced as captain by Kane Williamson. It resulted in a bitter fallout between Warner and Sunrisers, who released him ahead of the 2022 mega auction, where the Capitals bagged him for INR 6.25 crore ($762,000 approx then).
Warner endured a difficult first half of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, during which he had to return home after being stuck on the elbow by a short delivery from Mohammed Shami in the second Test in Delhi. Even as the curtains are closing in fast on his Test career, Warner’s white-ball career remains strong and he would look at utilising the IPL experience in his and Australia’s preparation for the ODI World Cup which will be played in India in October-November.