ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Bar fight with Joe Root turned my career around, feels David Warner
What’s the story?
David Warner has opened up on the infamous bar fight with Joe Root during the previous edition of the Champions Trophy. Exactly four years since then, the left-hander attributed the act of indiscretion to the vagaries of youth and insisted that the incident went a long way in bringing his career back on track.
When asked if the episode turned his life around, Warner felt, “For getting my career back on track, definitely. And for becoming the person I am today and not just the cricketer, definitely. It was a learning curve for myself. I was young and I'm now old. We all go through periods where we're young and naive to what can be out there.”
“There's little things there that you have to think about as a youngster 'what can I do?'. I probably didn't work that out at that stage, but now I have and I've got a great balance on and off the field. I didn't really think what would have come of the situation.
“People didn't look too far or deep into it to see who was in the right or wrong. And that's forgotten, that's all gone, it's in the past and we can tell a happily ever after story at the end of my career.”
The Background
In the aftermath of Australia's defeat to England at Edgbaston in the 2013 Champions Trophy, Warner was involved in a bar fight with Root at the Walkabout bar in the city. The southpaw punched the Yorkshireman after he was playing around with a green/gold wig.
Even though Root had apparently mocked his facial hair (or lack thereof), Warner misconstrued the intention and thought that he was mocking South Africa’s Hashim Amla.
The heart of the matter
According to reports, Warner had attempted to pull Root’s fake beard and landed a punch which did not connect properly. Following the incident, the Australian batsman was dropped for the subsequent game against New Zealand and also had to cop a hefty fine.
Extra Cover: Warner blasts timing of Cricket Australia video
However, since then, Warner has turned his career around both on and off the field. Aside from being a doting father of two little girls, he has grown from strength to strength and established himself as the premier opener in the world across all formats of the game.
What’s next?
Warner even jested that he will offer a handshake to Root if they both meet again in the same bar. They will be in Birmingham for the crucial clash between England and Australia on Saturday. While the hosts are already through to the semi-finals, it is a virtual knockout game for the Aussies.
Author’s Take
Since the bar fight in 2013, Warner has scored 7542 runs at an average of 49.61 and strike-rate of 91.45 including 26 centuries and 30 fifties across all formats of the game. As the numbers show, his career truly took off in the aftermath of the incident. Both on and off the field, he has seen plenty of happy moments.