AUS vs PAK | Virender Sehwag called me a better Test player than T20 player, admits David Warner

David Warner was recognised as a game-changer in white-ball cricket from his very initial cricketing days. It was during his IPL stint with Delhi that he was told by Virender Sehwag that he can be a world-class test player with his stroke-play ability.

It is remarkable when someone being stereotyped as a limited-overs cricketer turns out and performs well in the longest format. Who better than Virender Sehwag and David Warner to prove the stereotypes wrong. 

"When I met Virender Sehwag while playing for Delhi in the IPL, he sat down to me and said I will be a better Test player than a Twenty 20 player. I said 'you're out of your mind, I've not played many first-class games'," Warner said to ESPNCricinfo after second day’s play.

Sehwag was also labelled as a white-ball cricketer before he was given an opportunity to open in Tests. With similar batting techniques, Sehwag was quick to notice the potential Warner possessed. 

"He always said 'they will have slips and gully, covers open, mid-wicket stay there. mid-off and mid-on will be up, you can get off to a flier and sit there all day and you'll be picking them all off'. That's always stuck in my mind, it sounded very easy when we were discussing then," he added.

The opener was criticised for his miserable performance in The Ashes this year with him just scoring 95 runs from 5 Tests. His performance in whites dipped when he came back from his one-year ban. He started the Pakistan series off with a blistering 154 in the first test of the series and continued his form with a record-breaking 335* in the second.

With Warner nearing Brain Lara’s highest test score of 400, it was expected of the Australian team to continue on with their innings as they were only into second day’s play. But the rain forecast forced the Aussie skipper Tim Paine to declare once he surpassed Bradman’s 334. 

“We looked at the weather that’s around tomorrow, we wanted to give ourselves a lot of time. We’ve managed to get six wickets down. If there is a bit of rain about tomorrow, the bowlers get a good rest, they only have to come out and try to get 14 wickets in the last two days,” he concluded as saying by ESPNCricinfo.