If sledging is an art, David Warner was quite a master at it, especially in the first half of his career. But the Australian opener, who has retired from Test and ODIs, feels that sledging will go out of fashion soon, courtesy the camaraderie that players develop while playing together in the franchise T20 leagues all around the world.
The 37-year-old Warner played his final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday, helping Australia sweep the series 3-0 against Pakistan. While he has also quit ODI cricket, Warner will be available for T20Is and T20 leagues across the globe.
The left-handed opening batter was known for his aggressive behaviour against opposition players before the Cape Town ball-tampering saga in 2018. Warner 2.0 was a much toned-down character on the field of play.
Earlier this week, Usman Khawaja, also an Australian Test opener, claimed that the coaching staff instructed Warner to sledge opponents during the early stages of his Test career, with the Newlands sandpaper scandal prompting an overhaul of the team’s culture.
“When I came into the team, the way that I went about it on the field was to get in people’s faces, to upset them and to get them off their rhythm when they’re batting. I was moulded into being that person,” Warner said.
But now Warner feels that sledging has no future as the players share dressing rooms while playing in T20 leagues.
“I don’t think you’ll see that kind of sledging or anything like that anymore. I think it’ll be just like a bit of laughter, a bit of banter, like me and Shaheen Shah Afridi (in the Test against Pakistan).
“I think that’s probably the way forward. I don’t think you’ll see that old aggression again,” he said.
“It will change. In five, ten years’ time, if I am coaching, I think the whole dynamic will be changing, and it’ll be more about cricket specifics and how you’re winning games, and not about how you get on the skin of batsmen when you’re out there.”
Warner, by the way, has expressed his ambition to take up coaching in future. “Yeah, I’ve got ambitions later down the track to potentially coach,” Warner told ‘Fox Cricket’.
“I’ll have to speak with the wife first to see if I’m allowed a few more days away.”
With inputs from PTI