Never mind the risk, I have to respond to Ashwin, says David Warner

Never mind the risk, I have to respond to Ashwin, says David Warner

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David Warner and Ravichandran Ashwin have been involved in a contest of their own during the ongoing Test series and Warner has lost his wicket to Ashwin thrice already. The opener, however, says he won’t stop playing his shots against the off-spinner and will continue to fancy his chances.

Australian opening batsman David Warner has said that he will not stop taking his chances against India’s Ravichandran Ashwin, despite acknowledging the risks of doing so. Ashwin has already got Warner out three times in four innings in the ongoing four-match series that is locked at 1-1.

Speaking to the Australian media on Saturday, Warner was quoted as saying, "He has got me now on nine occasions so credit to him for that".

While Ashwin cleaned up Warner’s stumps with a sharp turner in the first innings of the second Test, he had the Australian opener trapped plumb in front, in the second innings.

One of the ways Warner can counter Ashwin is by bringing the switch-hit into play, but he does acknowledge the shortcomings of that shot on Indian wickets. "If you miss that and switch hit you can still be given out lbw, but if you reverse you can't. You have to be careful."

Warner also acknowledged Ashwin’s prowess as a bowler by saying, "He's a fantastic bowler, he's got a lot of wickets in his backyard and I have to respond to that."

Warner’s respect for Ashwin’s abilities is not without reason. So far in the series, Ashwin has been spinning webs around most Australian batsman, including Warner. Moreover, the constant rambling from India’s close-in fielders has only made things worse for the Australian batsmen.

Although Warner initially had a reputation as a ‘bad boy’, the left-hander now claims that he doesn’t need to respond to sledging anymore. "I don't need to respond, not anymore (to sledging)."

Warner also gave insights on how the Australian teams approach frictions that have started to become a feature of the game nowadays. "I can only speak on behalf of our Australian cricket team and the way we approach the game and approach the off fields. I'd be pretty upset if one of our players or staff did that. But at the end of the day, there's going to be a lot of niggles here and there around certain things and I think just a few people got out of hand.”

While being asked to respond to Pujara’s post-match comments in a video posted by the BCCI, where Pujara and Kohli are seen exchanging words with incoming batsmen, Warner said, "It's just a rule of the cricketing world you keep everything on the field but that's up to them. From our point of view, we'll never do that."

Warner also said that new bat size restrictions imposed by the Marylebone Cricket Club will not have any major impact and it’s just a matter of getting used to the changes. "We're just going to have to adapt to the changes. The ball will still go the same distance, still go to the fence, we'll still get our ones and twos. The odd nick might not carry this time."

The MCC’s new rules imply that from October, bat sizes will be restricted to a maximum of 108mm in width, 67mm in depth and 40mm on the edges. This means that Warner’s bat will not be permitted from October, as it uses a depth of 18mm more than what will be permitted.

Finally, Warner hopes that incoming speedster Pat Cummins will be an ideal replacement for the injured Mitchell Starc. "We know he's got a lot of pace which he will definitely bring and that's one thing we always talk about. You always have to have someone who is a spearhead quick and that's always been the Australian approach and we know he's got that firepower.”

"It's been a long time (since his last Test) and he's been working his backside off to get his body right for one and it was great to see him come back and play the Shield game the other day and bowl well.” We know with Patty as (Starc's) replacement we're going to have that firepower there if the selectors go that way," Warner concluded.

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