As Australia’s preparations were underway to face India in the World Test Championship 2023 final, their experienced opening batter David Warner came up with a well thought-out plan pertaining his retirement from international cricket.
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Set to play his fourth final of an ICC tournament tomorrow, Warner made his plan public before the reporters at Australia’s training ground in Beckenham a few days ago. If his statements are to be believed, the next 12 months or so are set to be his last in Australian colours.
Having said that, his remaining stay in the international arena is a guarantee subject to how, as he himself admitted, selectors react to his performances in the upcoming series across formats. Also, as has been observed by cricketers in the past, unless he decides to make a U-turn about the decision.
It is worth of a mention, that the left-hander had spilled some beans on the topic in the beginning of this year as well.
David Warner Retirement
As per his statement to the local reporters last week, Warner will bid adieu from Test cricket in January next year, most probably after featuring in his hometown Sydney Test match farewell against Pakistan in the beginning of the Australian summer. As per the schedule, the Sydney Cricket Ground will host the third and final Test match of Pakistan’s tour of Australia 2023-24.
As far as his White-ball career is concerned, the 36-year-old is hopeful that he continues to be available and playing until ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in West Indies and USA.
“If I can get through this (WTC final and ensuing Ashes campaign) and make the Pakistan series, I will definitely finish up then. I probably owe it to myself and my family – if I can score runs here and continue to play back in Australia – I can definitely say I won’t be playing that West Indies series.
‘You’ve got to score runs. I’ve always said the (2024) World Cup would probably be my final game.”
Post the aforementioned series against Pakistan, West Indies will tour Australia for a multi-format series beginning January 17.
David Warner Has Been Far From His Best Of Late
Having come up with ordinary performances of-late, the southpaw batter has been placed under the scanner as he continues to be picked by the selectors across formats.
Especially in the Test format, he has been performing far from his best. Having smashed just one century in his past 32 innings, Warner had scored mere 571 runs at an average of 30.05 across 20 innings last year. During the four Test innings this year so far, he has returned with scores of 10, 1, 10, and 15.
In the recently concluded IPL 2023, his strike rate of 131.63 was highly criticized by fans and former cricketers as he largely struggled to up the ante during most of his 14 innings. In fact, he skippered Delhi Capitals to the ninth spot in the points table despite ending the season as their leading run-getter.
