Australian opener David Warner has not had the best of times on his tour so far. He has scored 98 runs in four innings in two Tests so far and has especially struggled against Ravichandran Ashwin, with the Indian off-spinner getting him three times in the series.
In fact, Ashwin has dismissed Warner nine times in 12 Tests so far, which is better than any other bowler in Tests. It’s a fact which Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara was quick to tell the Australian opener when he came out to bat in the second innings in the second Test in Bengaluru.
But, in an interview with cricket.com.au, Warner said that he has his plans in place.
“I’m working on a few things in the nets,” said the Australian opener. “I know he’s going to be at one end for the whole time I’m out there, and the other end I’ve got another spinner or quick so I’ve got to negate that.”
Warner also revealed that one idea he had in mind was to employ the reverse-sweep or the even more unconventional switch-hit against Ashwin, but he was quick to point out that a missed switch-hit could result in a leg-before-decision going in the bowler’s favour.
“The last Test I was contemplating [trying] to play a reverse sweep. The only concern for me is the variable bounce - that’s always the challenging thing,” said the Aussie opener. “If you miss that and switch hit you can still be given out lbw, but if you reverse [sweep], you can’t, you have to be careful.”
And as far as he is concerned, he is not going to get drawn into sledging, despite his reputation for being a firebrand earlier in his career. He did, however, take a sly dig at the Ashwin-Pujara video where the two had discussed about sledging the Australian players
“I don’t need to respond, not anymore. It’s just a rule of the cricketing world, you keep everything off the field [but] that’s up to themselves. From our point of view we’ll never do that,” said Warner. “They came out and said they don’t sledge, I think it’s just banter. You don’t take much notice of it.”
And, as for his bad record against Ashwin, the Australian opener brushed it away. “As an opening batter you will face those guys all the time. Someone is going to have your measure if they’re going to bowl every second over at you. I just have to adapt.”
