“I laugh at the matter”: David Warner finds funny side of criticism around lack of runs in T20 World Cup 2021

David Warner finds funny side of criticism: The Australian opening batter appears to be unperturbed about receiving criticism over his form.

Australia opening batter David Warner has switched to synthetic and concrete wickets to get his timing and rhythm right ahead of their second Super 12 match against Sri Lanka in Dubai tomorrow.

Warner, who had scored 14 (15) in a 119-run chase against South Africa last week, was playing a T20I after more than a year. In what has been that kind of a year for Warner, his 195 Indian Premier League 2021 runs at an average and strike rate of 24.38 and 107.73 respectively aren’t very impressive either.

“One thing that should be noted is these practice wickets have been up for close to 12 weeks now, so training is quite difficult on them as well. At the moment I’m training on some synthetic wickets and polished concrete to get timing and rhythm and moving my feet so that’s helping me,” Warner was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Opening the batting with captain Aaron Finch (0), Warner was the second Australian batter to get out as he guided a Kagiso Rabada delivery to Heinrich Klaasen at backward point. Reflecting on his dismissal, Warner shared a realization with respect to the same.

“In hindsight I should have played it over the top, but I pushed it to backward point. My feet were moving, I got into great positions, but my awareness should have been to go with it. Felt I was one boundary away from having a good innings,” Warner said,

David Warner finds funny side of criticism around lack of runs ICC T20 World Cup 2021

Warner, who has turned 35 today, revealed that people criticizing him for his lack of runs makes him laugh primarily because of the less number of matches that he’s played lately.

“I actually think people talking about my form is quite funny. I laugh at the matter. I’ve played hardly any cricket. Had two games in the IPL and then warm-up games are warm-up games for a reason. The other day I got my benchmark as where I should be at with my feet,” Warner added.

While it is true that Warner has returned with scores of 0, 2, 0, 1 and 14 since landing in the UAE, two of the single-digits scores coming in warm-up matches doesn’t affect the left-hand batter. Warner, who has received immense support from his teammates in Glenn Maxwell and Matthew Wade, laid emphasis on playing his “role” in the World Cup.

“Individuals have to play their roles. It’s not necessarily a big score, it’s how you get 20, 30 or 40 and then if you get that big score it puts you in a great position. You’ve just got to make sure you aren’t soaking up too many balls,” Warner further added.