Veteran Australian opener David Warner silenced the critics, especially his former teammate Mitchell Johnson following a century in the first Test of his farewell series against Pakistan at Optus Stadium in Perth.
Johnson has been one of the biggest critics of Warner after he wrote a column, questioning his place in the squad for the first Test against Pakistan due to his dwindling form in red-ball format. However, Warner let his bat do the talking and came out with blazing guns to silence his critics with an incredible century, marking his farewell Test tour on a high note.
After completing his 26th Test century, Warner came up with a gesture that sent a message to critics and Mitchell Johnson for questioning his place in the team. The 37-year-old seems to have gestured with ‘keep your finger on your lips’.
Following his century, David Warner explained the reason for his gesture, stating that scoring runs is the only way to shut the critics.
“It’s my job to come here and score runs. It was good to get a couple of partnerships, first with Uzzie (Khawaja) and then with Smudge (Smith). (On his century) It does feel great, it’s about putting runs on the board for the bowlers. No better way to silence the critics than by putting runs on the board," Former Australia captain told broadcaster Fox Sports.
David Warner becomes 5th leading run-scorer for Australia in Tests
David Warner has surpassed Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke’s tallies of 8625 and 8643 runs, respectively, to become the fifth leading run-scorer for Australia in the history of Test Cricket. He is currently behind Ricky Ponting, Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Steve Smith on the chart.
Also, the southpaw has equalled former West Indies batting legend Sir Gary Sobers tally of 26 centuries in Test cricket. On all-time Test centuries chart, Warner currently ranks 23rd.
However, David Warner currently holds the record for most centuries by an opener in the history of international cricket (49*).
