David Warner poses for a selfie with fans © Getty Images
David Warner, who has been banned for life from holding any leadership position in Australian cricket, is set to captain his team in the Global T20 Canada.
Warner will lead the Winnipeg Hawks with Dwayne Bravo, the designated captain, pulling out of the rest of the tournament. Winnipeg coach Waqar Younis was confident Warner would be the right choice, having seen the opener lead in the IPL.
“I’m sure he’s going to be a good leader when it comes to captaincy,” Waqar told News Corp. “(Warner) is a leader. He’s a team man. I’ve seen him in IPL and I’ve seen him as a leader. He’s up there, he’s upfront and he likes to give whatever his knowledge is, he’s always there.”
Warner led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the IPL title in 2016, and in 12 matches as the Australia captain (three ODIs and nine T20Is) has lost only one game, a rain-affected T20I against India in October 2017.
Imad Wasim, the Pakistan allrounder, will replace Bravo in the team.
The tournament in Canada is the first one that Warner and Steven Smith have taken part in since the fallout of the ball-tampering scandal that rocked Australian cricket in South Africa earlier this year. Both are serving one-year bans from international and Australian domestic cricket. Warner has played three games for Winnipeg so far, with meagre returns of 1, 4 and 1, and will have at least two more matches in the league phase. With two wins, Winnipeg are currently on top of the points table, ahead of West Indies B and Vancouver Knights on net run-rate.
At the start of the competition, Warner had said he was looking to get the rhythm of the game back, and that he would be open to advising his junior team-mates about the game. “For me it’s about getting back into the rhythm of cricket again, making sure I’m putting my best foot forward for this tournament, making sure that I’m putting 100% in all the time, giving advice to the guys who don’t get the opportunity to play on the big stage as well, and just to compete.”
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo