IPL helps soothe on-field animosity: Warner

David Warner says the melting pot of nationalities in the Indian Premier League allows international rivals to smooth over any lingering animosity from previous on-field clashes.

Four months after Warner and Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan were fined for a heated exchange during the first Commonwealth Bank Test in Adelaide, the left-handed duo are once again teammates and opening batting partners at Sunrisers Hyderabad.

And it's proved to be a fruitful union so far this season; the pair has enjoyed partnerships of 30 and 82 in their two matches in the tournament to date, with their runs coming at a strike rate of 162.

Warner powers Sunrisers to victory

Warner has never been shy of exchanging words out in the middle and is a strong believer in the adage that what happens on the field should stay on the field.

And he says the IPL, where international rivals become teammates, provides the perfect opportunity to address any issues that may remain from previous encounters.

"We have been playing in the league for years. Usually when we play in the IPL, we look back and just have a laugh about our past run-ins," Warner told Hindustan Times.

"The idea is to leave the animosity on the field and not think about it off it.

"Sledging has become a part and parcel of the game.

"The intention is to make a player lose his concentration. That's it.

"I like to restrict such things to the field. But if someone takes it off the field it needs to be addressed."

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Warner and Dhawan walk out to bat in Chennai // BCCI

It's a reflection of the modern game that Warner is captaining Dhawan at the Sunrisers just weeks after India's final match of an often heated four-month tour of Australia and New Zealand last summer.

Warner and Dhawan were fined 15 and 30 per cent of their match fees respectively after exchanging words during the first Test in Adelaide, while India captain Virat Kohli was also fined 30 per cent of his match fee for his role in the exchange.

The incident in the Test series came just a month before Warner was fined 50 per cent of his match fee for an exchange with Dhawan's opening partner Rohit Sharma during the Carlton Mid ODI Tri-Series.

Dhawan isn't the only international star under Warner's leadership in Hyderabad; Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and KL Rahul were all part of the four-match Test series, while England duo Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara, New Zealand's Kane Williamson and Trent Boult and South Africa's Dale Steyn are also now Warner's teammates having been his international rivals over the course of the summer. 

And the mix of international stars at the Sunrisers is far from an isolated case; Steve Smith, Shane Watson and James Faulkner are playing alongside Ajinkya Rahane and Tim Southee at Rajasthan Royals, while Kings XI Punjab trio George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson can now call Indian opener Murali Vijay a teammate.

Warner is often as aggressive on the field as he is with bat in hand, and his approach has occasionally got him in hot water with match officials.

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Warner hit top form for the Sunrisers in Bangalore // BCCI

But his time in the IPL - he played five seasons with Delhi Daredevils before joining the Sunrisers last year - has allowed him form good relationships with several of his international rivals.

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen, Warner's one-time teammate at the Daredevils, wrote in his 2014 autobiography of how his relationship with Warner helped smooth over an incident during the 2013-14 Ashes series.

"I had been a teammate of Warner's at Delhi Daredevils, and got to know him really well - I got on absolutely fine with him," Pietersen wrote.

"People in the England dressing room hate him, but I realised (with a bit of a guilty conscience) that I quite liked the bloke.

"So (during the third Test) when it got hot and heavy between him and (Matt) Prior I stepped in. Warner felt that Matt Prior was personally abusing him, saying things that were over the line.

"I said, 'yeah, but Dave, you shouldn't have said the s**t you said about (Jonathan Trott) earlier. So, guys just calm down'."