Former Australian captain Ian Chappell has praised opening batsman David Warner for his playing style ahead of the veteran’s farewell Test against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), beginning on January 3.
Warner, aged 37, played exceptionally well, scoring 164 in the first Test at Perth, contributing to the hosts’ 1-0 series lead. Despite a quieter performance in the second Test, the left-hander, the Aussies secured victory, securing an insurmountable 2-0 lead with one match left.
In a discussion with World Wide of Sports leading up to Warner’s final Test, Chappell downplayed the importance of ranking the dynamic opener among all-time greats, opting to emphasize Warner’s unparalleled legacy instead.
“If you’re an opener, as soon as you fail once or twice, it’s always ‘mate, perhaps you should steady down a bit. Rankings are a load of bulls— in my opinion.”
“Could the bloke play? Bloody oath he could play. Was he one of the better players? Sure. Where did he rank? Who knows and who cares,” said Chappell.
Chappell expressed admiration for Warner’s aggressive style at the opening position, even during periods when he wasn’t scoring many runs.
“Very few players – and when I say very few, in my memory in the Australian Test side – have had the skill and the guts to play aggressively against the new ball and succeed.”
“I don’t think many people understand how courageous it is, because you will always get someone telling you how to play when you fail – it doesn’t matter where you bat,” added Chappell.
Warner stands as Australia’s fifth-highest run-scorer in Tests, amassing 8,695 runs at an average of 44.58, featuring 26 centuries in 111 matches.
In the lead-up to his farewell Test, the experienced batsman also declared his retirement from One Day Internationals (ODIs) during a press interaction.
“The sandpaper incident in South Africa has influenced many perspectives”- Ian Chappell
Ian Chappell additionally thinks that the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town in 2018 has turned many people against David Warner. Alongside Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft, Warner played a significant role in one of the most contentious episodes in Australian cricket, leading to substantial sanctions.
“The sandpaper incident in South Africa has coloured a lot of opinions and put a lot of people against David, but if anybody thinks that there were only three people involved in that sandpaper rubbish, then they believe in the Easter Bunny and Father Christmas,” said Chappell.
“David, like all of us, has made mistakes, but he owns up to them. He’s continued to confound people when people say he could be finished, he comes out and makes runs,” he added.
Prior to his recent century in the opening Test, Warner had achieved a hundred only once in his last 25 Test matches.
As queries regarding his place in the Test squad gained prominence in the recent weeks, the accomplished batsman even confessed to contemplating retirement from the format after the second Ashes 2023 Test.
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