David Warner kickstarts farewell series with century, goes past two Aussie legends

Australian opener David Warner not only silenced his critics, but also went past two Aussie legends as he kickstarted his farewell Test series with a century against Pakistan on Thursday. The explosive Aussie opener smashed a 164 in 211 balls, with 16 fours and four sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of 77.72.

During one of his best innings, as he was playing under massive pressure to perform following underwhelming Test returns for the past two years, Warner entered the top five run-getters for Australia in Test cricket, leapfrogging Matthew Hayden (8,625 runs) and Michael Clarke (8,643 runs). In the all-time list, his big hundred helped him surpass fellow swashbucklers Sir Viv Richards (8,540 runs) and Virender Sehwag (8,586 runs).

Warner now stands fifth among Australia’s highest Test run-getters with 8,651 runs at an average of 45.05, with 26 centuries and 36 fifties, trailing only Steve Smith (9,351 runs), Steve Waugh (10,927 runs), Allan Border (11,174 runs) and Ricky Ponting (13,378 runs). Also, Warner is just one century away from getting his 50th international century. He will become only the second Australian after Ricky Ponting (71 centuries) and overall ninth player to have scored 50 centuries or more in international cricket. He already has 22 ODI centuries and one T20I century.

Warner is also just 20 runs away from becoming Australia’s second-highest run-scorer in international cricket. In 370 matches so far, he has scored 18,477 runs at an average of 42.67, with 49 centuries and 93 fifties in 458 innings. His best score is 335*. He is just inches away from overtaking former Aussie skipper Steve Waugh (18,496 runs) and becoming second in the list next to Ponting (27,483 runs in 560 international matches with 71 centuries). Warner continues his brilliant form against Pakistan at home. In eight Test innings against the Asian side at home, he has scored 1,009 runs at an average of 144.14, with five centuries. His best score is 335*. Overall in 11 Tests against Pakistan, Warner has scored 1,417 runs at an average of 88.56, with six centuries and four fifties in 17 innings.

Coming to the match, Australia opted to bat first. Warner combined with Usman Khawaja (41 in 98 balls, with six fours) to have a 126-run opening partnership. The left-hander later went on to have valuable partnerships with Steve Smith (31 in 60 balls, with four boundaries) and Travis Head (40 in 53 balls, with six fours) to guide Aussies to 346/5 at the end of day one. Aamer Jamal (2/63) was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Faheem Ashraf, Khurram Shahzad took a wicket each. (ANI)

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