He is the team’s official DJ — playing a selection of rock, pop, jazz and blues in the team bus; he’s also a jester of sorts, keeping the team in good spirits. Apart from that, he beats Glenn McGrath and Daniel Vettori in card games every night here, tees off with conviction and surfs as well as any Australian on the beach.

But it’s when David Warner walks in to bat that the buzz really catches on in the Delhi Daredevils dug-out. The diminutive Australian left-hander has drawn a lot of attention since his T20 debut for Australia, and has also impressed since filling in for the injured Virender Sehwag at the top of the order in the IPL.

He’s been getting along great with the team and already sees Gautam Gambhir as his inspiration. “Gauti is a great guy. It’s interesting to see how he plans his innings. We have not had any lengthy conversations but certainly I have learnt from him,” he says.

Warner has been stereotyped as a T20 specialist already, and even though the left-hander struggles to display his versatility, Gambhir is on hand as an example. “Gauti is superb in all formats and that comes from experience. It is the start of my career and players like Gauti are way ahead. Hopefully playing alongside him will help.”

Warner had to wait a while before making his IPL debut, but insists he never got edgy. “It’s a difficult situation where you can play only four foreigners, especially with Gauti and Viru being an established pair. I knew I had to wait for my turn, I am glad it came,” he said. Warner scored a half-century in his first game and followed it up with scores of 36 and 21. On Sunday evening, during the demolition job against the Kolkata Knight Riders, he finished with a 23-ball 36.

... contd.