Warner gets his chance to captain

Australia opener David Warner has been named captain of his Indian Premier League team, Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Warner made it clear late last year he has intentions to lead the Australian team one day, and taking the on-field reigns of the IPL side will now provide an opportunity for him to display his decision-making skills.

In the only match Warner has ever acted in as captain he made a century in a Sydney Thunder win in the first edition of the KFC T20 Big Bash League.

“In the back of your mind you always want to look to be a leader,” Warner told News Limited in November.

“Whether I end up getting a leadership role or not I feel I’m going to be a leader anyway.

“(Sometimes) you need a lesson and you need to have a bit of a stuff up along the way to give you a kick in the backside. But I’ve always felt I’ve got a lot to offer to the guys.”

The announcement of Warner’s captaincy was very 2015 in its style, with Sunrisers tweeting overnight: “Congratulations @davidwarner31 on being the SRH captain for IPL 2015. We wish you all the best!”

Warner, who’s much savvier now on social media than he was back in 2013 when he got caught in a controversy while attacking journalists on Twitter, simply retweeted the IPL club’s tweet to acknowledge that he had received the memo.

Aside from his dominant form for Australia in the past 12 months or so, particularly in the Test arena, Warner made 523 runs in 14 innings for Sunrisers in the IPL last year – the fourth-highest run tally overall, and one place behind Australian teammate Glenn Maxwell (552 run in 16 innings).

Warner will captain his NSW teammate Moises Henriques at Sunrisers but will no longer open with his national partner Aaron Finch, who has moved across to the Ricky Ponting-coached Mumbai Indians.

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David Warner will no longer open with Aaron Finch // BCCI

However, Warner will not have too much time to dwell on the public confirmation of his new captaincy role in the IPL, with Australia in the final stages of their preparation for a World Cup quarter-final against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval on Friday.

Warner has been in solid form in the World Cup so far, compiling scores of 22, 34, 178 against Afghanistan, 9 and a brutal 21no against Scotland in Hobart last weekend which finished the job in Australia’s rain-interrupted run chase.

Australians in IPL

Chennai Super Kings: Mike Hussey, Andrew Tye

Delhi Daredevils: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Gurinder Sandhu, Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis

Kings XI Punjab: George Bailey, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh

Kolkata Knight Riders: Chris Lynn, Pat Cummins, Brad Hogg

Mumbai Indians: Josh Hazlewood, Aaron Finch, Aiden Blizzard

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Steve Smith, Kane Richardson, Ben Cutting

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Mitchell Starc, Nic Maddinson, Sean Abbott

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Moises Henriques