Former Australian captain Ian Chappell has praised opening batter David Warner for his style of play ahead of the veteran’s farewell Test against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), starting January 3. Warner scored a stunning 164 in the first Test at Perth to help the hosts capture a 1-0 series lead. Despite his poor show in the second Test, the Aussies still emerged victorious to take an unassailable 2-0 lead with one game in hand.
Talking to the World Wide of Sports ahead of Warner’s Test finale, Chappell said, “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.
However, Ian Chappell was quite impressed with David Warner’s attacking approach at the top of the order, even when he was short of runs as well.
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“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,” further added Chappell.
However, David Warner is Australia’s fifth-leading run-scorer in Tests with 8,695 runs which came at an average of 44.58, including 26 centuries in 111 matches as well. Meanwhile, the veteran batter also announced his ODI retirement while addressing reporters ahead of his farewell Test. Meanwhile, Ian Chapell further believes that the ball-tampering saga at Cape Town in 2018 has put many people against David Warner. Alongside Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft, Warner was also involved in one of the ugliest moments in Australian cricket as well.
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“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 Ian 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.”
