“I couldn’t be hitting the ball any better but it’s just that the runs aren’t coming for me at the moment”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
David Warner has failed to have a real impact with the bat in the ongoing four-Test series against India.
The Australian opener has only managed to muster 131 runs in the first three Tests at an average of 21.83. Despite this, he remains optimistic that the tide will turn in his favour.
“I feel fantastic, I couldn’t be hitting the ball any better but it’s just that the runs aren’t coming for me at the moment,” Warner said. “That will come, it will turn around. I just have to keep being disciplined and making sure that my preparation is still the same – not change anything, and just go about my business as I do.
“Numbers always pop up everywhere. For me it’s about putting my best foot forward and trying to put my team in a position that we can either defend or win games. That’s what that’s about. Everyone in world cricket, greats and legends of the game have had stints overseas or at home [where] they’ve had some form slumps. That’s just the game of cricket.”
This is not the first time Warner has endured a batting slump as in 2016, he made a century in the first week of the year, but failed to reach the triple figure mark again until the final week of the year, where he scored 144 against Pakistan in the Boxing Day Test.
Given that he went on to score 113 in the first innings of the next Test in Sydney, Warner insisted that he is not concerned about his lack of runs in India.
“That’s where in the back of your mind you’ve got to keep telling yourself you’ve done the hard yards, you just don’t lose it overnight,” he said. “There were tough periods where I kept on thinking to myself ‘am I actually doing the work at training?’ I sort of second guessed myself.
“I had a couple of words to some boys around Christmas time and they weren’t seeing any trends or anything with my dismissals, everything I was doing at training was spot on and in the normal way I go about it. Nothing’s changed, it’s still the same. I’ve just got to go out and keep backing myself and, when I’m out there, adapt to the conditions and then keep backing myself to try and keep putting the runs on the board.”
On a more positive note, Warner has been making sure that Australia have a strong foundation to build on as he and his opening partner, Matt Renshaw, have put together partnerships worth at least 50 runs on three occasions.
However, the 30-year-old conceded that he and Renshaw should be turning those starts into much bigger stands.
“For the team’s sake we need to get off to a good start,” Warner said. “As a partnership, me and Renners have been getting off to an okay start. None for 50 over here, you need those to be none for 100. We’ve seen the Indians do it before, batting big and [making] partnerships of 200.”
Speaking of Renshaw, Warner admitted that he has been highly impressed with the 20-year-old’s performance in his first series outside Australia.
Playing in unfamiliar conditions, Renshaw has managed to score 223 runs, which includes two fifties, at an average of 37.16.
“He knuckles down. He’s got the game. He’s got the brains as well, for a 20-year-old kid,” Warner said. “I know where my mind was when I was a 20-year-old. Credit to him. To come out here and play the way he has done so far in this series is a testament to him and obviously the way he started in Australia as well.”
India and Australia are tied at 1-1 heading into the fourth and final Test in Dharamsala on March 25.