David Warner's ability to rise every time he falls is what sets him apart from the rest
David Warner endured a tough Ashes this summer. The talented left-hander aggregated just 95 runs during the entire series at a miserable average of 9.50, and things were looking bleak for him and his Test career.
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Stuart Broad posed several probing questions before Warner, to which he seemed to have no answers. The moving ball in overcast conditions kept catching him in no-man’s land. In the 10 innings that he played in the series he had eight single-digit scores, and people were starting to ask questions.
But then Pakistan visited Australia for a two-match Test series, and things began to change. A rejuvenated Warner came out and milked the Pakistani bowling attack in the first Test at Brisbane. He scored his first Test hundred of this calendar year, which was actually a patient knock by his standards.
Warner's 154 runs came off 296 deliveries, and he combined caution with aggression to come out on top of the opposition bowling. In the process, he helped Australia thrash the visitors by an innings and 5 runs to take a 1-0 lead.
But it is the ongoing second Test where the redemption has been completed. At Adelaide, the Warner of old is back. Every bad ball has been punished, and he has held nothing back.
Warner has played with a new sense of freedom that was conspicuously absent against England, thrashing the hapless bowlers to all parts of the ground. In the process, he has recorded his highest score in Test cricket, a marauding 335*, to put his team in firm control of the match.
2019 has been an absolute roller-coaster ride for Warner. He started the year by returning with a bang from his one-year ball-tampering ban.
Warner was sensational in the IPL, partnering with Jonny Bairstow for Sunrisers Hyderabad and giving terrific starts to the team. He then took the World Cup by storm, smashing a whopping 647 runs at an unreal average of 71.79 with three hundreds.
Then came that torrid Ashes summer where he struggled to put bat to ball. And now in the Test series against Pakistan, the southpaw has acquitted himself in glorious fashion once again.
Life is like a pendulum, and Warner has experienced both sides of it in the last one year.
This has undoubtedly been a much-needed resurrection for Warner. His ability to rise higher every time he falls is what sets him apart from the rest.
The stocky left-hander is still just 33 years old, and still has plenty of challenges to face. If he can continue to show this ‘never-say-die’ attitude on the field, he can take Australian cricket to great heights in the future.