This Day That Year: David Warner scores his maiden T20 century in IPL 2010

It was the 29th of March 2010, exactly ten years back to the day. David Warner, one of the giants of the modern game, scored his maiden ton in T20 cricket and hinted at what is to follow from his ominous willow.

Warner was in the second year of his IPL career having being signed by Delhi Daredevils, now Delhi Capitals, in 2009. He did not have a great start to his IPL career aggregating just 163 runs in 7 innings at an average of 23.28 with a lone fifty to his credit in the 2009 season. Warner was keen to set the record straight and showcase his talent as he entered his 2nd IPL season.

It was the 7th match of the season for the Delhi-based team and the 4th match for Warner as he was not part of the team for the first three matches. Going into the match, Warner had aggregated 96 runs in 3 innings, including a fifty against Deccan Chargers.

Although Warner did not have a great IPL 2010 post this century, he went on to become one of the most feared batsmen in world cricket as well in the IPL. For the record, he is the highest run-getter amongst foreign players in the history of the IPL with 4706 runs to his credit including 4 centuries.

Let us relive how things unfolded on that particular day.

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Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders - 29th March 2010

David Warner in a punishing mood.

The Delhi Daredevils took on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 26th match of the third edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on 29th March 2010. It was the 7th match of the season for both the teams and they were looking to move up the points table with both having won 3 of their 6 previous matches.

The Daredevils won the toss and elected to bat on a track that was expected to help the spinners. Warner and Virender Sehwag formed an explosive opening pair for the Delhi team while Chris Gayle opened the bowling for KKR. Sehwag seemed to be in an aggressive mood, smashing boundaries off the first two deliveries he faced, but his innings was cut short when he was stumped off the last ball of the first over.

Although Warner continued the assault on the hapless KKR bowlers, Delhi kept losing wickets at the other end. The score read 38 for the loss of 3 wickets at the end of the third over with the captain Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik having joined Sehwag back in the dressing room.

Paul Collingwood joined Warner in the middle at the loss of the 3rd wicket and the duo stitched together a 128-run partnership for the fourth wicket to resurrect the innings. While Warner was smashing the bowlers all over the park, Collingwood was more intent on rotating the strike with an odd boundary in between. The duo was particularly severe on the Kolkata pace bowlers with Charl Langeveldt, Ishant Sharma and Ajit Agarkar conceding 78 runs in the 6 overs they bowled. Although the KKR spinners applied the breaks in the middle overs, the damage had already been done.

When Collingwood was dismissed on the second delivery of the last over of the innings, the Daredevils had already put 166 runs on the board. The young Kedar Jadhav smashed the last ball of the innings for a boundary as the Delhi team accumulated a score of 177 for the loss of 4 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Warner was undoubtedly the star of the show, smashing an unbeaten 107 off just 69 deliveries in a knock laced with 9 fours and 5 mighty sixes.

Chasing 178 for victory, the onus was now on Chris Gayle and captain Sourav Ganguly to give KKR a flying start. But that was not to be, as Ganguly was castled behind his legs by a full delivery from Dirk Nannes. Wickets continued to tumble as Mandeep Singh and Manoj Tiwary were back in the hut without troubling the scorers, leaving KKR reeling at 21 for the loss of 3 wickets in the 5th over.

Although there were some small partnerships thereafter, none of the batsmen could make a big contribution with Gayle finishing as the highest run-getter with 30 runs to his credit. There were other small contributions from David Hussey, Angelo Mathews and Wriddhiman Saha, but KKR could not keep up with the mounting required run rate and ended their innings at 137 for the loss of 9 wickets to eventually lose by 40 runs.

All the Daredevils' bowlers were amongst the wickets with Umesh Yadav and Andrew McDonald the highest wicket-takers with 2 wickets each.

Also see – RCB Team

David Warner was undoubtedly the Man of the Match for his belligerent knock that almost single-handedly took the game away from KKR.

At the post-match presentation, Warner mentioned that he had backed his instincts and acknowledged the role of Collingwood in their partnership.

"I just assessed the conditions and backed myself. I had to knuckle down after six overs and stay in the middle. Anywhere between 160-180 was going to be a good total. Collingwood was perfect, he played terrific and assessed the conditions well."

Gambhir, the Delhi captain, asserted that it was one of the better innings he had seen considering the nature of the track.

"Warner's was one of the best innings I have seen, especially on this track. 180 was always a very good total. We know how to play on such a track, it's difficult for a new team to adjust to this pitch. Umesh has good pace, he has a good future."

Warner is one of the most feared batsmen in world cricket right now, especially in the shorter formats.