David Warner broke the shackles of his Ashes disaster with a sensational triple hundred, the 31st in the history of Test cricket, at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday against a hapless Pakistan attack. Warner, who had made eight single-digit scores in the Ashes, has made a stunning 489 runs in 2 innings this series at am average of 489. Should he not bat again, it will be the third best average in a Test series in the history of the game.
Warner’s triple ton came at a strike rate of 80.14, the fourth best strike rate among triple hundreds. Both of Virender Sehwag’s triple tons had come at a better strike rate than Warner and the Australian, in the post-day press conference lauded Sehwag’s role in the massive knock.
Warner said that the Indian opener had told him that he has the ability to be a better Test batsman than a T20 batsman. The two had shared the dressing room while playing for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL.
“When I got the opportunity to play for Delhi Capitals, a few years back in the IPL, and I met Viru (Virender Sehwag) over there and he sat down to me and I’ll quote him forever, he said, ‘I’ll be a better Test player than a T20 player’ and I told him that you are out of your mind, I don’t even play many first-class games.
And he always said to me, ‘You have some slips and gullies, the covers are open, mid-wicket is there, mid-on and mid-offs are up, you just play in your way and you’ll get off to a flyer and sit there all day and picking up lofts’ and that has always stuck at the back of my mind. That sounded very easy when we were discussing that.”
Warner’s extraordinary knock saw Australia put up a domineering total by dinner on day two of the pink ball Test. Pakistan were reduced to six for 96 by close of play.