Australia opener David Warner is all set to retire from international cricket at the end of the ongoing T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies.
With barely a few days remaining in his illustrious career, Warner hoped that the constant abuse he receives for his involvement in the ball-tampering plot will be lesser once he takes off the ‘Baggy Green’.
Warner was among the three Australian players, including former captain Steve Smith and opening batter Cameron Bancroft, who were found guilty in the ball-tampering scandal that rocked the cricketing world in 2008.
While Warner and Smith were banned for 12 months, Bancroft was handed a nine-month ban. Moreover, Warner was also barred from holding any leadership positions in the Australian teams.
“Coming back since 2018 I’ve probably… been the only one that’s ever copped a lot of flak,” Warner was quoted as saying to reporters.
“Whether it’s people who don’t like the Australian cricket team or don’t like me, I’ve always been that person who has copped it.
“It’s fine if they want to do that, but I always feel like I’ve taken a lot of pressure off a lot of guys as well, and I think understandably I’ve been that person to be able to absorb that. But one can only absorb [so much]. For me, it’s great to go out knowing I’m not going to cop it any more,” he added.
Warner acknowledged that his name will awalys be associated with the ‘sandpaper gate’, but he would like to be remembered as a cricketer first by the ardent followers of the game.
“I think it’s going to be inevitable that when people talk about me in 20 or 30 years’ time, there will always be that sandpaper scandal,” the left-hander said.
“But for me, if they’re real cricket tragics and they love cricket, [and] my closest supporters, they will always see me as that cricketer – someone who tried to change the game … someone who tried to follow in the footsteps of the openers before me and try and score runs at a great tempo and change Test cricket in a way,” he further stated.
Warner cited examples of other sporting scandals that did not tarnish the reputations of other athletes like the ‘sandpaper gate’ did to him.
“You look at the Tom Brady thing with ‘Deflategate’, it sort of blew over,” Warner said. “But because this is our national sport and there’s a lot going on at the time with the Australian prime minister and his cabinet deflected upon cricket.”
“There was a great deflection, and there was a lot going on in the politics world as well. So the focus shifted towards the Australian cricket team. It was difficult. That was difficult. But to move on from that, it’s been great. [I] just knuckled down and do as well as I can, and I’ve copped my fair share of all that,” he remarked.
