"You don’t see that side of Davey"- An emotional Usman Khawaja on David Warner ahead of the latter's farewell Test against Pakistan
Veteran Australian opener Usman Khawaja was pleasantly surprised to see his opening partner David Warner get a bit emotional while speaking about him in the latter's retirement press conference.
Warner is set to play his final Test for Australia against Pakistan in Sydney and the way he spoke about Khawaja was enough to suggest just how beautiful the camaraderie between the two southpaws was over the years.
Speaking to Fox Cricket, here's what Usman Khawaja had to say about seeing the emotional side of David Warner in the video:
"It is quite special and quite emotional, I haven’t seen that. You don’t see that side of Davey (Warner) at all. Obviously he doesn’t show you that side when he is playing. He is a fierce competitor. You see the Bull and you see him go out there and play hard and I have known him for a long time and I know that side of him."
Usman Khawaja has played age-group cricket with Warner and believes the latter is a great human being off the field no matter how aggressive he gets while stepping onto the ground. On this, he added:
"Something I love about Davey and probably the thing I love about him the most is you see what he is like on the cricket field, but he is such a different person when he is back home and with his family. I have obviously known his parents Loraine and Howard for a long time and their family is good mates with my family."
Usman Khawaja on David Warner's Test and ODI retirement
Usman Khawaja acknowledged the hard work that David Warner put in over the years to end up being a legendary cricketer for Australia. Having played so long with the fellow southpaw, Khawaja feels it will take some time for him to sink in that Warner has retired from the longer formats.
On this, he stated:
"Playing together and being together for so long, the journey is bizarre and one part of that journey is coming to an end. He has stopped playing Test cricket and One Day Internationals and he put so much time and effort into it and there is so much heart, soul and tears that go into it."
Khawaja further added:
"There is so many ups and downs and so much goes into it, I guess when you get to the realisation that it is coming to an end, especially being able to share that with a childhood friend. And now that we have our own kids it is weird when it comes full circle."
Having already scored a century in Perth, David Warner will be motivated to finish his Test career on a high with another strong performance in front of his home crowd in Sydney.