Warner reveals how he took help from a friend to learn Bengali to communicate with Mustafizur

Despite a valiant 86 from captain David Warner, Delhi Capitals ended their 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign with another huge loss. Warner was the lone ranger for Delhi throughout the season. He scored 516 runs at 36.8 with a strike-rate of 131.6 but his team won just five out of 14 matches.

His good friend Mustafizur Rahman got a couple of opportunities for the side but could not make the best use of them. But it was a sweet reunion for Mustafizur as he played under Warner in his debut season - 2016 - when the Sunrisers Hyderabad won the IPL title. Mustafizur was well-handled by Warner and the pacer went on to win the Emerging Player award. 

During the first season, Hyderabad coach Tom Moody and Warner learnt a bit of Bengali to communicate with Mustafizur who doesn't speak English. Warner, after all these years, seems to remember a bit of Bengali he learnt at that time. 

In 2022, they were at the Delhi Capitals too and the team shared a video where Warner was talking to Mustafizur in Bengali. "Hello friend! Kemon achho? Ami tomake bhalobashi [How are you? I love you]."  

In the fourth episode of the eighth season of "Breakfast with Champions", Warner revealed his familiarity with Bangladeshi culture and how he took help from his old Bangladeshi mate back in 2016 to communicate with Mustafizur.

"At school, I had a really good mate of mine who is from a Bangladesh background. Growing up, we played for the same cricket team, everything. He always aspired to play for Bangladesh even though he played for Australia. I would go to his house and eat on the floor. I surprisingly asked him why we were eating on the floor. He was like, 'That's our culture'. That's how I knew about different cultures from the age of 11 before even travelling."

"When I first met Mustafizur, I was talking Bangla to him. I spoke to my friend back home. I told him, 'I need to speak to him [Mustafizur]. I need to learn some basic words [to communicate with him]. Before Google Translate and all this, I just communicated [with Mustafizur] through my friend. My friend would tell me to say certain things. When I did that, he [Mustafizur] would just laugh."

The host Gaurav Kapur asked how much Bengali Warner remembered. He said, "All I know is some rude words and Ami tomake bhalobashi [I love you]."