Australia’s David Warner celebrates with his medal after winning the ICC Cricket World Cup. PHOTO: REUTERS
Australia opener David Warner pulled out from the five-match T20 series against India, starting from Thursday.
Warner – Australia’s leading run-scorer with 535 at 48.63 during their successful World Cup campaign–will instead return home ahead of his final Test summer having previously stated his plans to retire from the longest format following the New Year’s match against Pakistan in Sydney.
Emerging West Australian allrounder Aaron Hardie joined the Aussie squad over the weekend as a replacement for Warner after making both his ODI and T20I debuts during the white-ball tour of South Africa in September.
“Selectors decided Warner would return home on the back of a successful yet demanding World Cup campaign,” Cricket Australia said in a statement.
Despite signalling his intention to call time on his Test career, Warner is determined to play on in the white-ball formats, replying to social media post this morning highlighting his ODI World Cup record with: “Who said I’m finished??”
Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have named an experienced T20 performer as the captain of the team for the five-game T20I series against Australia.
Suryakumar Yadav was named as the captain of the side which will take on Australia in the five T20I home series.
A majority of the members of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 have been rested after the gruelling tournament and the build-up to it. Only three players – Suryakumar, Prasidh and Ishan Kishan – will play in the upcoming T20I series.
The series runs from 23 November to 3 December.
