Cricket from its origin till now has given many stories of two best buddies who pursued a dream to play this beautiful game together as a child, grew up on a single dream ,played age group cricket together , performance wise got selected in domestic team and finally representing the national team or their respective countries.
This stories inspire a lot of younger generation to like and be passionate about the sport. Many such childhood friendships grow up to achieve a lot in cricketing history and create records in the field of play. Cricket over the years have produced such beautiful tales of friends be it Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar or KL Rahul and Karun Nair from India to AB De Villiers and Faf Du Plessis in South Africa.
One such brewing tale of friendship is between Australian openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner. Both David Warner and Usman Khawaja had spent their lives together in the field of play since age group cricket and now when David Warner is on the verge of retiring from International cricketing circuit barring T20IS , his Pakistan born Australian friend Usman Khawaja has emotional tears which are filled with pride for the achievements as well as holding the memories of playing days alongside him.
Usman Khawaja’s emotions for David Warner can be feelings beyond word as the comraderies they share are beyond the cricket field deeply rooted in their memories right from age group cricket.
David Warner was an absolute menace- Usman Khawaja
Left handed stylish Australian opener Usman Khawaja has played a lot of cricket alongside teammate David Warner from the age-group level and has naturally made several great memories.
One such memory that Khawaja hilariously recalled showed how mischievous Warner was growing up. During tea intervals in the games, Warner and Khawaja used to take cherries and stain other kids’ clothes knowing that it will be difficult to clean up the shirt.
Speaking to Fox Cricket, here’s what Usman Khawaja had to say about David Warner and the prank with cherries:
“Davey was an absolute menace. He was a terror as a kid honestly. One of the stories I bring up all the time that I love was we used to have tea time and he always gravitated towards the cherries. He is a smart man and he knows those cherries stain. So we would pick up a cherry and chuck it at other people and teammates and the mum’s would be blowing up at the end of the day because they couldn’t get these cherry stains off. It is impossible to get cherry stains off,”
Usman Khawaja also compared David Warner’s personality with that of the late Shane Warne. Just like Warne, even Warner is a subject of mixed opinions among the cricketing fraternity due to several reasons. On this, he added:
“He (Warner) has that persona about him, he is a bit like Warnie, he is polarizing. Like Warnie was and a lot of Australia loves Warnie. There was a lot of people I grew up with who didn’t like Warnie and there were people sitting on either side, very polarizing. Davey is the same. He is very polarizing. You either love him or you don’t. There is nothing really in the middle,”
Usman Khawaja on David Warner’s nature off the field
Because of David Warner’s on-field aggression and in-your-face attitude, Usman Khawaja believes his opening partner is thought to be the same off the field as well. However, Khawaja spoke about how helpful and humble Warner is as a person.
On this, he stated:
“Off the field he is one of the most giving people I have ever met. He sits down with random people all the time and just chats to them like an everyday Aussie bloke. You would have no idea that he is a Test cricketer and one of the greats of the game. He is the first person I see whether it is family or friends, he is like what do you want? I will get it for you. What do you need? I will do this or that for you,”
Khawaja further added:
“If I was ever in trouble he would be one of the first people I would call because I know he would be the first one to answer and the first one to help me out. He is that kind of guy and that is the side you don’t see of him and he doesn’t show that to a lot of people, so people just see what they see on the field and make up their minds, which is fair enough. But you don’t know the real David Warner behind the scenes. He can be quite rough even off the field, but deep down inside there is a really good human in there,”
Usman Khawaja had also been in full support of David Warner when the latter was a part of a controversial column written by former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson.
With the likes of David Warner retiring from Test and One Day cricket post his farewell test vs Pakistan at Sydney on 3rd January 2024 it would be rather an emotional moment for Australia and Usman Khawaja alongside the cricket fans who now only have to remember this friendship story off the field in cricketing folklore.