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Australia's opening batter Usman Khawaja revealed that David Warner's behaviour before he received a one-year ban because of ball tampering came down much to the team instructions.
Warner has been known for his aggressiveness that he displays on the field. With Warner playing his final Test, talks have been around the prolific career he has had with the Baggy Greens. Khawaja who is a close friend of Warner's and has been one the players who has closely monitored his career gave his views on the left-handed batter's nature and said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo, "For a long period of time, he was in people's faces and doing stuff; but that wasn't always Davey. He was getting told to play a certain way by the coaching staff and people around at certain points. He's such a team player. If you ask him to do something, he'll do it. That's the frustrating part when people come at him because I know he'll do anything he needs to for the team to win a game." "Back in the day, if the team asked - or coaches or senior players [asked] - to get into the contest or sledge the other teams, he'd do it. He doesn't have to do it, but he wants to help the team, and that's how he felt he had to help the team. You've seen a very different David Warner since he's come back in 2019. He's done it his own way," Khawaja added. Khawaja and Warner have had the chance to walk beside each other twice in the veteran's farewell Test. Khawaja stated that the emotions were running high as their time together on the field was slowly coming to an end. "We are pretty tight - probably even tighter after he missed a year of cricket because he went through a really tough time, and I always made sure he was going all right. I always had his back. It's really good to watch that people are getting around him because I think he deserves it; I really do. I think about the journey we've been on, and it is quite emotional," Khawaja said. The final Test currently hangs in the middle with both teams having an equal chance to clinch the win. Rain and bad light curtailed the final session of Day 2 of the ongoing third Test of the three-match series. The rain had the final say and Stumps were called early on Day 2 with only 46 overs bowled. At the time of Stumps, Australia's score read 116/2 -trail by 197 runs- with Marnus Labuschagne (23) and Steve Smith (6) standing unbeaten at the crease. Because of Pakistan's mainly disciplined bowling, Australia made sluggish but steady progress in their reply, adding just 110 to the overnight deficit despite losing both set openers. (ANI)
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