Australia’s destructive opener David Warner questioned Cricket Australia's (CA) decision to ban him from leadership roles for life for his involvement in the ball-tampering saga in South Africa in 2018.
Despite his eligibility to coach Australia in the future, Warner finds the ban puzzling. Warner believes that coaching is as crucial as captaincy and expressed confusion over CA’s decision not to lift the “leadership ban” after he retired from Test and ODI cricket.
Notably, the Australian cricket board had imposed a captaincy life ban on the left-handed opener for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal during the 2018 South Africa tour, where he, along with Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft, plotted and altered the ball's condition during the Cape Town Test.
David Warner told Code Sports: “What's the difference between captaining and coaching? You've got more responsibility as a coach, wouldn't you think so? I don't know, I'm not sure, I don't know how to answer. It's been five years, and I still don't know how to answer the question.”
He continued, “It's just something that's hard to get my head around. Apparently, I will be able to coach if allowed to in Australia. But I can't captain. So yeah, I'm not sure what it is. It's under contract with Australia. It's a leadership position, so I'm not sure; I just don't know. It's very bizarre.”
Meanwhile, Warner further highlighted the positive impact of the IPL in his career. He noted, “I would have changed early doors; I wouldn't have been that attack dog. If IPL came around earlier, in my mind, I found that the more I get to know people, the more I wouldn't actually go at someone.”
He signed off by saying, “And I felt like I was actually directed to be that person, to go out there and attack opposition players and get under their skin. I think just because that was me growing up and being attacked verbally, playing grade cricket, that's all you knew growing up.”
(With news.com.au inputs)
