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The flat decks on offer during the ongoing Indian Premier League might have made the role of an anchor batter irrelevant to an extent but Delhi Capitals opener David Warner says a sheet anchor will play a key role during the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean starting June 1.
India's Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are players with an old school approach where they still build an innings before going hammer and tongs. But the likes of Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Jos Buttler and Jake-Fraser McGurk have been simply unstoppable in their start-to-finish mayhem.
Asked if batting template in IPL can be replicated at the T20 World Cup, Warner replied in a negative.
"They (pitches in West Indies) can be slower and they're gonna turn a bit. I don't think they're going to be as compact as they are here. You know, I've played a lot of cricket over there. I've played in the CPL. The wickets tend to get a little bit lower and slower," Warner replied to a PTI query.
"Even when we played there in 2010 World Cup, the pitches there weren't high scoring. That's when you did need an anchor. Someone like Mike Hussey came out and scored runs for us. He had to come and sort of knock it around," Warner said while recalling the 2010 edition where Australia finished runners-up.
"It's gonna be completely different there. Add the natural elements as well. There's going to be predominantly day games. I think because of the timing. So that plays a big a big factor.
"So the ball definitely will not be swinging like here at least in India. Here for first four or five overs, the ball can swing and could be challenging so. The pitches in Caribbean being dry, the ball will get roughed up and it's going to spin," the dashing left-hander said.