After getting a distasteful ‘kick’ send-off from Oman pacer Kaleemullah, Australia’s David Warner nearly entered the wrong dressing room. David Warner was one of the architect of Australia’s win over Oman alongside all round effort from Marcus Stoinis. David Warner who has already retired from International cricket (Tests and ODI’S) is playing his last T20I World Cup after which he is desired to retire from all forms of International cricket and the batter of David Warner’s calibre would make it a dream one for himself.
Australia’s opening batter David Warner shed light on the light-hearted incident where he mistakenly walked into the wrong dressing room during the 2024 T20 World Cup clash against Oman. The veteran was dismissed in the penultimate over of the innings after scoring a fifty, and proceeded to make his way to the Oman dressing room before his blunder was brought to attention.
David Warner’s performance vs Oman sets up Australian win
Oman may be 17 places below Australia in the ICC Men’s T20I rankings, but they did not give an inch to the five-time ODI and one-time T20I World Champions when they took the field against the Mitchell Marsh-led side in a T20 World Cup Group B match at Bridgetown in Barbados on Thursday. They put Australia under a lot of pressure in the first half of their innings. Australia were 62/3 in 12 overs at one stage. It was only when Marcus Stoinis went berserk in the last few overs that the Kangaroos surged ahead.
Apart from Stoinis, there was another main character in Australia’s innings. That is David Warner. The opener had an eventful day in the middle. He struggled to hit the first boundaries but did not throw his wicket away. It was because he held one end up that Stoinis could swing his from the other end without much thought.
David Warner ended up with 56 off 51 balls and, in the process, became Australia’s highest run-getter in T20Is, surpassing former captain Aaron Finch, who was incidentally in the commentary box when the left-hander broke his record. Finch, who opened the batting with David Warner for many years, was seen waving to his former teammate from the commentary box. David Warner, too, reciprocated it with a raise of the hand and a smile. David Warner currently has 3155 in 104 T20Is. Finch finished with 3120 runs in 103 T20Is.
Kaleem Ullah’s distasteful ‘kick’ send-off to David Warner
A few overs after that, Warner was dismissed by Kaleemullah while trying to clear the long-off fence. The wicket meant a hell of a lot to the Oman pacer, who celebrated it aggressively. Kaleemullah let out a roar and showed a kick in Warner’s direction as the Australian opener turned his back to walk towards the dressing room.
The drama didn’t end there. Warner was walking to the dressing room, alright, but not towards the Australian one. The left-hander mistakenly climbed the stairs of the Oman dressing room and only realised it halfway through. He then turned back and then moved towards the correct one.
Stoinis smashed a game-changing 67 not out off just 36 balls to power Australia to 164-5 and then took three wickets for 19 runs as Oman were restricted to 125-9 in reply. Post the match Warner shared funnily how he just forgot his own teams dressing room.
David Warner opens up about walking into the wrong dressing room in T20 World Cup 2024 win over Oman
Australia’s opening batter David Warner shed light on the light-hearted incident where he mistakenly walked into the wrong dressing room during the 2024 T20 World Cup clash against Oman. The veteran was dismissed in the penultimate over of the innings after scoring a fifty, and proceeded to make his way to the Oman dressing room before his blunder was brought to attention.
Warner had played a crucial hand as an anchor following a difficult start for Australia in the contest. Being reduced to 50-3 in the ninth over, the opener had to hold one end for his team and forge a partnership with Marcus Stoinis at the other end. Warner’s efforts led to Australia posting 164 runs in the first innings, which proved to be more than enough as Oman struggled to 125-9 during the run chase.
“I did not even notice. I was exhausted. So, I did not even think about it. I did not even know what was happening. I thought someone was calling me back,” Warner told reporters ahead of the England clash.
The 2024 T20 World Cup marks Warner’s final international assignment after having already announced his retirement from the longer formats.
David Warner on facing England’s pace duo of Wood and Archer
The veteran laid down the foundation for the upcoming encounter between the Ashes rivals in the Caribbean by downplaying the threat posed by Mark Wood and Jofra Archer. England are yet to record a win in the tournament as their sole match so far was abandoned due to rain.
However, in the brief 10 overs that were bowled in the clash in Barbados, the pair of Wood and Archer bowled a set of tight overs as Scotland ended up scoring 90 runs.
“You just have to use their pace. Test cricket they set different fields, different balls. In Twenty20 cricket, you only have to get half an edge on it and it can go. So there’s a fair difference,” Warner said.
Australia’s clash against England is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 8 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.