Don’t see David Warner in category of ‘greats of the game', reckons former Aussie coach John Buchanan

David Warner retired from Tests, and ODIs, with the end of the Australia-Pakistan red-ball series at home. Warner made his final red-ball appearance in the third and final Test, at the SCG, Sydney, where Pat Cummins-led Australia beat Shan Masood & Co. by eight wickets to inflict a series whitewash over the Asian giants. Warner ended his Test career with 8,786 runs from 112 games and 6,938 ODI runs, including a WTC winner anda two-time 50-over World Cup winner.

While Warner is regarded as a modern-day great, former Australian head coach John Buchanan feels that the swashbuckling batter is surely right up there performance-wise but does not consider him a 'great of the game'."I think he’s certainly performed exceptionally well throughout this career, he sits on 8000+ runs, he’s played over 100 Test matches, over 160 ODIs and nearly 100 T20s. On performance base, he’s right up there,” Buchanan was quoted as saying to SEN Breakfast.

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"But greats of the game, in my opinion, are people that really do and have done something exceptional that others just can’t match, so, therefore, you automatically go to the Bradmans, McGraths, Warnes, they’re the greats in my opinion. Others come close, but are just not in that category and I don’t see Warner in that category,” he added.

Warner will represent Australia in T20Is, with an eye on the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA. The showpiece event will kick off on June 2 with Australia, the one-time winners, placed in Group B along with England, Namibia, Scotland and Oman. The top-two from each four groups will proceed to the Super Eight round.