Cricket Australia Asked David Warner to Retire


image-lfjqso00David Warner has played 103 Tests for Australia (Twitter)

Unarguably, David Warner has been one of the greatest batters of his generation. His contributions to Australian Cricket are unparalleled, as he has served them in all three formats of the game. However, one of Australia's greatest openers is in the twilight of his prolific career.

Warner, who debuted in 2009, has been going through a lean patch, scoring just two international centuries in the last three seasons. Apparently, the former Australian skipper was asked to hang up his boots after the third and final Test against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in January 2023.

The cricketer's wife, Candice Warner, has revealed the conversation between Cricket Australia and her partner. While talking to Yahoo Sport Australia, she recalled the incident that happened earlier in the year, saying that Warner still has the spark to don the whites for his country.

"David (Warner) still has a burning desire to open the batting for Australia. There's still a lot of things that he wants to achieve that he hasn't achieved," Candice said. 

"He'd love to go out on his terms but you're not always afforded that opportunity and David fully realises that. He could have easily retired after the Sydney Test this year, but that's not what he wants. He still wanted to contribute to the team in India and still be there at the Ashes and then we'll just see." 

Furthermore, Warner's wife asserted that the opening batter wants to have one more go in the upcoming Ashes, where his national team will be playing to retain the trophy.

"(He's) clearly one of those would be to perform at the best he possibly can in England against the Duke's ball. Whether the selectors and the coach allow him that, I don't know. But I do know he still has that desire and that hunger to continue."

So far in his career, Warner has played 103 Tests, 141 ODIs and 99 T20Is for Australia to amass 17,054 runs across all formats, with 45 centuries to his name. He is the second most international hundreds for his nation.

After missing the last two Tests and first two ODIs on the ongoing tour, the 36-year-old was finally brought in the Playing XI at Chepauk, but only to bat at number 4. And his outing in Chennai wasn't a merry one as Kuldeep Yadav dismissed him after a 31-ball 23.

After the conclusion of this series, the Australian will join the Delhi camp before the IPL 2023, where he will lead the franchise without their regular skipper Rishabh Pant.