David Warner, Steven Smith’s deputy and Australia’s opening batsman, has urged his teammates to take the high moral ground in the remainder of the Test series – before vowing to continue his calm approach on the field against India.
The 30-year-old Warner said he would be upset if his teammates would act like Indian skipper Virat Kohli while referring to the incident, which took place during the second Test at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru over the Decision Review System (DRS), which further drew flak before the situation was pacified after both teams called for a truce.
“I’d be pretty upset if one of our players or staff did that. 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,” Warner was quoted as saying by Yahoo Seven News.
Earlier, Virat Kohli had alleged in the post-match conference by expressing Australia made a systematic use of the DRS when he claimed he had informed the on-field umpires that he caught the players seeking off-field guidance on referrals.
“Everyone has reigned it back in again and … hopefully, both teams will come out and play within the spirit of cricket,” Warner said.
However, Warner seemed more concerned about his batting plan as he has been the bunny of ace Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who has dismissed the latter nine times in Test matches.
“It’s just basically a rule of the cricketing world – you just keep everything on the field. That’s up to themselves. From our point of view, we’ll never do that,” Warner added.
Earlier, the infamous DRS caused a stir when Smith had a look at the team viewing area to ask for the help when he was declared LBW on the bowling off Umesh Yadav.
“They came out and said they don’t sledge – I think it’s just banter. I don’t need to respond. I’ll just sit back and watch and just laugh … you don’t take much notice of it,” Warner remarked.
In past, Warner had been at the forefront for on-field verbal spate, who now seems shedding the tag while being the deputy of the team.
“We all just ask for consistency … it’s in the ICC’s hands. It’s out of my control,” Warned revealed.
After the post-match tirade from Kohli, Warner also admitted he was not happy with non-stop chat from the close-in fielders, which included Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara.
“Everyone’s talking … when you have four or five men around the bat constantly, you’ll hear some kind of stuff. Half the time, I don’t even understand,” Warner concluded.