In a stellar kick-off to his farewell tour, David Warner silenced all critics about his Test cricket form with a remarkable 164 off 211 balls on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan.
En route to his incredible innings, Warner entered the top five run-getters for Australia in Test cricket, leapfrogging Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke. In the all-time list, his big hundred helped him surpass fellow swashbucklers Sir Viv Richards and Virender Sehwag.
Warner now stands fifth among Australia's highest Test run-getters with 8651 runs, trailing only Steve Smith, Steve Waugh, Allan Border and Ricky Ponting, an ICC report said.
Warner justified Pat Cummins' decision to bat first on the Perth surface as he came out with intent. He raced to a fifty off just 41 balls, stringing a century stand with Usman Khawaja that came at a brisk pace.
After reaching his century, the 37-year-old David Warner received a couple of lifelines – first, Khurram Shahzad missed a catching opportunity, and then Sarfaraz Ahmed failed to execute a stumping. Warner made Pakistan pay by piling on the runs and notching up 150.
The visitors finally got the better of Warner by deploying the short-ball tactic that saw the Aussie opener hole out in the deep a few overs before the end of the day's play. Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey then navigated the remaining overs without further setbacks, guiding Australia to a commanding position with 346 runs on the board and five wickets down. (UNI)
