A Champion With No Title

Hello Friends,

2024 has already seen a bunch of men's cricketing legends saying goodbye to their loved profession of years either completely or partially. If departure of these legends makes their fans sad knowing that they won't be able to see their favourite stars entertaining them on the cricket field anymore, it also opens the door for the next generation of players to showcase their talent at the global stage and make a name for themselves. Saying goodbye to the sport you loved so much since childhood is never easy. It's really an emotional moment for any sportsperson. On the other hand it also gives them the opportunity to spend more time with their family & friends and explore many different professions or hobbies. In most of the cases filling the shoes of the outgoing legend who has served his country for years with so much passion is never easy. But as they say the show must go on and the same applies in sports too. Today we are going to talk about one such modern day cricketing legend in our section Unsung Hero whose departure from the international arena has created such a big void which would be hard to fill in the coming years.

Image Design: Bala Kumar

The Young Lad With A Lot Of Aggression

If a book is written or a documentary is made on the most successful Bad Boys of cricketing history Aussie great David Warner's name will certainly feature in it. yes, cricket's quintessential bad boy David Warner decided to bid goodbye to international cricket earlier this year though he will continue to participate in T20 leagues across the globe. At times it's felt that the so called bad boy image which he was associated with from the early days of his career, did hamper his reputation as a phenomenal achiever to a large extent. A multi format stalwart, Warner had been such an impactful figure on & off the field for such a long period that his absence is going to haunt the Aussie set up for a fair amount of time in near future.

Warner in domestic cricket for New South Wales
Image Credit: paddynapper, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

He was identified as a rare talent at a very young age. That's the reason he holds the record of being the first Australian cricketer to be selected for national team without any first class cricket experience. An aggressor at heart, his unique style of dominating the opposition bowlers from the word go makes him such a valuable asset across formats. Another major reason for being termed as one of the greatest of all time is his ability to adapt to different formats of the game without changing his playing style. In the modern T20 arena lot of players find it difficult to tweak their technique as & when needed as per the format. But Warner deserves lot of credit for doing that effortlessly for more than a decade. Warner's test career consisting of 26 centuries is a testament to his adaptability in international cricket despite being termed as a T20 dasher during the initial days of his career.

Credentials Of An Extraordinary Achiever

Why Warner's cricketing career is a dream for any young aspiring Aussie cricketer? If we look at his overall career it is clearly visible that he has achieved more than what he would have dreamed while starting his cricketing journey. Four world cup titles( 2 ODI WC, 1 T20I WC & 1 WTC), Ashes triumph against arch rivals England, test match triple hundred, Ashes hundred, World cup hundred, T20I hundred, double hundred in 100th test match are some of the achievements that he would be extremely proud of. Apart from individual brilliance his leadership acumen is another aspect that made him such a sought after talent. Unfortunately he was part of that coveted list of Aussies who could not lead the national team for a long period although he was the vice captain of the national team for a fair amount of time.

Character Of A Champion In Tough Times

Another aspect of his cricketing journey because of which he earned immense respect was his ability to bounce back. His dramatic comeback during the 2019 ODI World cup post the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa was one for the ages where he hit three centuries & ended up as the second highest run getter of the tournament. Another instance of his stellar comeback has been during Australia's maiden T20I World cup winning campaign back in 2021 when he played a pivotal role throughout the tournament. Not to forget that he came to the tournament after a disastrous IPL that year where his poor performances with the bat & some differences with the team owners saw him loosing his place both as a player & captain. Despite consistently being surrounded by on & off field controversies he always ensured that when he is there in the middle with the bat in hand he is unstoppable. That's a lesson any young cricketer could learn from him on how to bring back focus on the job in hand irrespective of all sort of distractions.

His journey in the cash rich T20 league IPL is another roller-coaster ride. He is the top run getter (6000+ runs) among the foreign players participating in IPL till date. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise in 2016 when they won their maiden IPL title. He was the most prolific performer both as a batter & captain for the same franchise over a long period. Despite that he was shown the door in 2021 when the team underperformed under his leadership. This was another prime example of cut throat competitive nature of franchise cricket. Post that he continued to represent Delhi Capitals till 2024 with some match winning performances. It was so surprising to see this Aussie great not finding any takers for the 2025 edition of IPL during last month's mega auction. We will get to know whether this is the end of Warner's journey in IPL too or not in due course but he will be remembered as one of the IPL greats by the Indian fans specially the fans from Hyderabad who fondly used to address him as Warner garu (Garu word is used to show respect in Telugu language) for his heroics in the tournament.

Beloved Of Controversies

Over the years he has been the favourite child of controversies. Getting involved in some sort of altercation be it on field or off the field and being warned or punished for the same offence was synonymous with him from the early days. Probably somewhere down the line he didn't learn his lesson from those incidents which eventually led him to learn the biggest lesson of his life through a major controversy on the cricket field back in 2018. Ball-tampering scandal shattered the Australian cricket from top to bottom. It called for widespread criticism also because of the involvement of Smith & Warner, two of Australia's best batters at that moment. Warner was identified as the prime culprit in the entire incident & handed one year of ban from all forms of cricket along with a lifelong leadership ban in Australian cricket. Such a harsh treatment for one of the best players in the country. Even though the Australian cricket board tried to set an example of unbiased decision making & their non tolerance towards unfair means being applied on the cricket field, not terminating his leadership ban till the end of his international career was perhaps a bit too harsh. Recently his leadership ban has been removed by the Australian board & subsequently he has been appointed as the captain of BBL(Big Bash League) franchise Sydney Thunder.

Smith & Warner were a formidable pair in test cricket
Image Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:WikiWanderer261

What happened back in 2018 during that incident in South Africa & granting such strict punishments to all three accused players(Smith & Bancroft being the other two) is a thing of past. But what is more significant is the way Warner made a comeback to international cricket post one year ban. His performance during the 2019 ODI World cup was a proper statement to his critics. But this time he was more wise & determined. Each innings of his during that phase seemed like a warrior on a mission. It's never easy to come out of such a situation and face a packed stadium where you are being mocked by the crowd. But champions always cherish challenges. It won't be exaggerated to say that the phase post suspension was one of the best in his career. Warner's topsy turvy journey is a great guide to any young cricketer. It emphasizes the fact that how important it is to stay grounded when you are on top. And if you are not then life has its own ways to bring you back to the ground.

The Journey Continues....

Post retirement he has been seen in the role of a commentator more often along with preparing for a full fledged BBL season at home. I am sure he is not completely done with his cricket yet. We would definitely get to see more of David Warner in the coming days in franchise cricket. Hope he writes some more success stories for whichever teams he plays in near future before saying a final goodbye to the game of cricket. Before concluding this post let's have a quick look on some of the milestones & stats achieved by him through an incredible career.

Warner was the first Australian cricketer in 132 years to be selected for the national team in any format without experience in first class cricket.

First Australian batter to score 7 ODI hundreds in a calendar year.
During the T20 World cup earlier this year he surpassed Aaron Finch to become highest run scorer for Australia in T20Is (3277 runs) & still holds the record. He is also the highest run scorer in T20s (12400+) so far among the Australians.
He won the prestigious Allan Border medal thrice for outstanding performances in international cricket.
As one of the most successful foreign batters in IPL he scored more than 6000 runs with 4 centuries & won the Orange Cap ( Highest run scorer of the season) thrice.
He is 2nd in the list of most international centuries (49) & most international runs (18995) by an Australian behind Ricky Ponting.
Holds the record of highest number of ODI World cup centuries (6) by an Australian.
He is the first Aussie batter to score a hundred in his 100th ODI.

Below mentioned is a glimpse of his overall stats in international cricket along with stats of centuries against each team.

Career Stats