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Warner admits rushing back from injury to face India was a mistake

Wed, Mar 3, 2021,  Warner suffered a groin injury in the ODI series against India and has been struggling since.

Warner suffered a groin injury in the ODI series against India and has been struggling since.

David Warner has admitted that he should not have rushed himself back from injury to play in the Border-Gavaskar Test series against India, conceding that he took the call to help his teammates out in a tough series. The dynamic opener suffered a tear in his groin while diving to field a ball in an ODI against India, an injury that ruled him out of the T20I series as well the first two Tests that were split.

He returned to action in the New Year but scores of 5, 13, 1 and 48 in the four-Test innings meant his return didn’t have the intented impact on his side, who went on to concede the series on a dramatic final day in Brisbane. The speedy return didn’t help with his recuperation either with only a cancelled tour of South Africa giving him the time off before this week’s return to domestic cricket.

“It put me back a little bit,” Warner said on the eve of New South Wales’ Marsh Cup clash against South Australia. “Looking back in hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have done that. I made the call to play those Test matches, felt like I needed to be out there and help the guys.

“If I’m thinking about myself and the injury, I probably would have said no but I did what I felt was best for the team and me being out there opening the batting was I felt the best thing for the team. I’ve had this time to heal and obviously with South Africa being called off, it gave me a bit more time to get that strength work done,” he added.

After his domestic cricket commitments, the 34-year-old Warner will next be in action with Sunrisers Hyderabad at IPL 2021 followed by a stint at The Hundred in July. His next Test assignment might well be in the second half of the year unless England beat India in the fourth Test at Ahmedabad to help Australia progress to the World Test Championship final. There is another ICC trophy to fight for later in the year at the T20 World Cup although Warner has set his sights until the 2023 50-over World Cup.

“I’m not thinking about the end date at all, for me it’s about the 2023 World Cup,” he said. “We’ve got a good foundation with the white-ball team, we’ve got a good opportunity to play that and win in India. The core of the team with the age group it will probably be the last for a few of us. Then obviously it’s a given that you have to call it time unless you are going to play to 41 – it’s time for the new guys to come through.

“From a Test cricket point of view, I’d love to play as long as I can. We’ve got a lot of cricket coming up in that context after this year so for me it’s about staying fit and healthy and trying to manage my family time with cricket.”






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