London, June 3 (IANS) Australia’s veteran left-handed opener Usman Khawaja believes his opening partner David Warner is probably looking at his best while practicing in the last few days ahead of an important World Test Championship final against India, which is quickly followed by the Ashes.
Warner made just 26 runs in three innings in this year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in India before returning home due to injuries. He averages only 26.04 in Tests in England, and had a terrible time during the last Ashes tour in 2019, averaging 9.50, with veteran pacer Stuart Broad taking his wicket seven times.
“I have seen him bat in the last couple of days and, I don’t want to jinx him, but he is looking good. This is probably the best I have seen him look in the nets for a while. That doesn’t always correlate to runs, but if we are any chance of Davey Warner scoring runs this could be it,” Khawaja was quoted as saying by ICC.
Khawaja was quick to draw attention towards Warner slamming a double-century in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa last year. “He always plays his best when his back is against the wall too. We saw when he scored a double century in his 100th game when everyone was writing him off and telling him he was done and it was his last game and he went out and gets 200. You never write off a great player, so I am expecting runs,” he added.
On his part, Warner has refrained from getting involved in any pre-Ashes banter ahead of the highly-anticipated series starting from June 16 at Edgbaston. “It just sells papers and clickbait, so I won’t be getting involved in any of that stuff. I will leave it to themselves.”
“Today there is no real banter in the field. It is just about playing quality cricket and trying to get the upper edge on each other. It is a lot more connected these days than before which I think is great for the game,” he concluded.
–IANS
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