Cricket World Cup 2023 AUS vs PAK | If you give yourself time at the back end, you can actually score big: David Warner

Soaring success: Warner, whose ODI ton on Friday was his fourth against Pakistan, says he doesn’t really look at stats. 
| Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K

That David Warner is among the most destructive batters in the world is unquestionable. His record at the World Cups has played a big part in the making of that phenom.

He is seventh in the list of most run-getters at the quadrennial event, but four of the six who sit above him have retired and the other two are Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

In fact, only Rohit has played fewer innings than Warner to score as many or more runs — 1243 runs from 21 innings averaging 65.42 at a strike-rate of 102.55 to Warner’s 1220 from 22 innings averaging 61 at a strike-rate of 100.00.

“What I’ve established early on in my career is that 50 overs is a long time,” Warner said about batting in ODIs.

“And having played Test cricket, you actually can take that out and change gears quite easily. In the first 10 [overs], two new balls, you got to respect that. But if you get away, you can be 50 off the first 10.

“In T20 cricket, I’ve learnt [how] to change my gears, especially in the IPL. I learned a lot when I was playing for Sunrisers… that you have a lot more time than you think. If you give yourself time at the back end, you can actually score big.”

Two of his five World Cup centuries have come against Pakistan. Friday’s was Warner’s fourth consecutive hundred against the Men in Green, dating back to 2017, of which the two World Cup tons form a part.

“I think sometimes you just match up well against certain teams. I don’t really look at stats or which team I have success against. I’ll probably even look at someone like Shaheen Shah [Afridi] and think, ‘oh, he probably has my measure’. But he doesn’t.”

“Left arm, swinging at about 140 kmph… it can be a difficult task to take on. [But] I just try my best.”