Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden reckons that the team will miss the services of David Warner greatly in the upcoming series against India. Pat Cummins & co. will lock horns with the Men in Blue in a five-match Test series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in November. Warner called it quits from Test cricket earlier this year in January following which he also announced his international retirement in July.
Hayden laments absence of Warner for India Tests
As per Cricbuzz, Hayden said that Warner’s retirement was an enormous loss for Australia in terms of how he can be replaced. The former opener said that the southpaw was extremely competitive and dynamic and had given a great service to the country’s cricket.
“For the first time, it doesn’t feel as secure. David Warner gave a great service to Australian cricket. He was extremely competitive, wonderfully dynamic. He really took that legacy that I’d created through the 2000s,” Hayden said.
Latest cricket news
The former Australian opener also reckons that Warner provided great momentum to the top-order which was otherwise conservative.
At present, there is an ongoing debate on who should be Australia’s opener alongside Usman Khawaja. Steve Smith, who is at present the other opener, has received contrasting views on his role in the team, with some of his teammates even suggesting that he move back to the middle order.
Smith has played in the middle-order for most of his career and has aced his role. Further, Australia are not short of specialist openers, given their strong bench strength. It remains to be seen if they will retain Smith as the opener for the BGT or if they will demote him back to the middle-order.
Editor's Pick
Top Stories
