IND vs AUS: David Warner to play ODIs; in Australia's WTC Final plans, assured head coach Andrew McDonald
IND vs AUS 2022-23: David Warner has not been in the best of forms, while an elbow injury forced him to miss the final two Tests against India. Meanwhile, Andrew McDonald assured Warner would play the ODIs and possibly the WTC Final.
FollowAustralia opener David Warner will compete in the upcoming One-Day International (ODI) series against India, having recovered from his elbow injury, coach Andrew McDonald confirmed on Tuesday. Warner struggled in the two Tests he played against India, scoring 26 runs from his three innings before being substituted out of the second match in Delhi due to concussion. He then returned home to recover from a hairline fracture in his elbow.
"He [Warner] is coming back [to India] for the one-day series. He's recovered from his injury," Australia head coach Andrew McDonald said. McDonald said Warner is even in the frame for the 2021-23 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Rohit Sharma's men in London in June. "At the moment, Dave's fully in our plans for the World Test Championship," McDonald said of Warner, who has scored 8,158 runs from 103 Tests at an average of 45.57.
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The 36-year-old scored 6,007 runs from 141 ODIs at an average of 45.16. McDonald also confirmed that in-form opener Usman Khawaja, who made 180 in Australia's first innings in the drawn fourth Test here, has been cleared of structural damage to his lower leg, which he injured while fielding on a penultimate day on Sunday.
"The scans are positive, so he gets time to rest and look forward to the World Test Championship. I'm sure there'll be a bit of rehabilitation around that, but at this stage, nothing structural or anything that will keep him out for long," McDonald said of Khawaja. The WTC final at The Oval in London will be played just a few days after the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL), but McDonald said Australia would be prepared well.
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"It will be squeezed, pretty much straight on the back of the IPL. We'll head to England with plenty of time to prepare over there. We've got things almost in place for that - we'll be well prepared," McDonald said. Of the front-line bowlers, Australia will likely deploy in England for the WTC Final and the following Ashes. Only injured quick Josh Hazlewood (Achilles soreness) and all-rounder Cameron Green are signed to participate in the IPL that begins on March 31.
Warner is the other probable member of Australia's United Kingdom (UK) touring party who will also spend the coming months playing white-ball cricket in India. "We are continually talking to our senior players about what they have coming up, juggling the schedule in front of us. We are staring down 274 days on the road, 144 for the red-ball team, and 130 for the white-ball team. So, there will be some give and take within that," McDonald articulated.
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McDonald admitted that the defeat in the second Test in Delhi, where Australia suffered a batting collapse, losing eight wickets for 28 runs in barely an hour, was when hopes of a historic series win evaporated. "It's a proud group; they'll see it as a missed opportunity. Not many teams come here and get the opportunity like what was presented in Delhi, and if it had been one-all [after Delhi], who knows how the series goes from there," McDonald conveyed.
"So there's a lot of what-ifs around that, [but] we got some solid performances in the last two Tests. We're proud of what the team's achieved, but in saying that, we didn't achieve what we wanted to hear. We set that as three series in the subcontinent [and] we've come away with three wins, three losses and three draws. That's a tough WTC cycle, so to finish on top of the table with that on the calendar is pretty impressive, and we're the world's number one, too," concluded McDonald.
(With inputs from PTI)
