Sunrisers Hyderabad benefitted from David Warner's aggressive approach, says VVS Laxman

Sunrisers Hyderbad assistant coach VVS Laxman remains an iconic figure for the city of Hyderabad and their latest triumph in the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League, winning the title with a eight-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore has left the former Indian batsmen proud and marveling at the genius of a certain player of his team.

David Warner has deserved every bit of praise and accolade that has been reaped on him this season. He has consistently shown why he is a proficient captain for the shorter version of the game. When he decided to bat first and let Bangalore, a team that relies on its batting, chase, it showed his belief in the team to perform better than RCB when it mattered the most.

VVS Laxman spoke about his emotions after the sensational win victory and the exploits of captain David Warner to iplt20.com.  

“I think he (Warner) led from the front. He is an inspirational character who is very positive and aggressive at the same time. His nature has rubbed off on a lot of youngsters,” Laxman said.

He also spoke about Warner’s impact, especially on the bowlers.

“I think he is a bowler’s captain; giving freedom to bowlers, especially when things are not going your way, you need your captain to back you and that’s what our bowlers got from their captain,” he told the official website of the IPL.  

Hyderabad is no stranger to the IPL trophy. In 2009, the Adam Gilchrist led Deccan Chargers shook off a disappointing inaugural IPL season performance by winning the second edition of the tournament. Incidentally, they had defeated RCB in the finals back then as well. After the sale of Deccan Chargers, a new team, backed by Sun TV started their new innings from the 2012 season of the IPL. Now, that team, the Sunrisers Hyderabad have gone and beaten yet another attempt by Bangalore to win their first IPL trophy.

Laxman was asked about this emotional roller-coaster ride that the Sunrisers have been on for the past four years. He said, “It is fantastic and has been a great journey. We started off a little slowly, losing the first two games, but after that, the kind of team bonding we have got, not only this year, but in the past four years too, has been exceptional. The way we have fought back, especially in the last two games against Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Lions, we really had to play good cricket to qualify for the final,“he said.

Laxman also made a special mention for veteran seamer Ashish Nehra, whose comeback for India as well as the Sunrisers is nothing short of extraordinary. However, he could not be there to reap the rewards of his early performances in the IPL, as he was ruled out with an ankle injury.

" Nehraji is an inspiration. To make a comeback at this age and do well for the Indian team and now for Sunrisers, you are a role model to a lot of youngsters and I’m sure a lot of them would learn from your story,” Laxman added.

Watch the full video here