David Warner was the target of harsh criticism ahead of the current Benaud–Qadir Trophy 2023–24 from former Australian teammate Mitchell Johnson, which many felt was unwarranted.
Despite all the talk, Warner stayed silent and silenced many of his detractors when he smashed his 26th Test century in Perth during the opening match against Pakistan.
Mitchell Johnson, who provided radio commentary during the Test, responded to Warner by saying that the opener had not done anything particularly noteworthy.
Along with Warner, the former World Cup winner from 2015 went on to defend his remarks against the soon-to-retire opener in a column for West Australian.
After making his debut for Australia in 2011, the 37-year-old has already declared that the forthcoming Sydney Test against Pakistan will be his last match in white for the team.
Mitchell Johnson Fresh Fresh Shots At David Warner
“On day one of the first Test against Pakistan Warner rode his luck early on – and it could have gone either way – and you take that and he went on to make 164. He did what he was paid to do in the first innings before Saturday’s duck in the second innings.”
“I think my opinion in this column a couple of weeks ago is still valid. He hadn’t scored runs in about three years apart from the double century last summer,” Mitchell Johnson wrote.
Mitchell Johnson further wrote, “Another point made was that a soft summer like this, with Australia expected to comfortably beat Pakistan and the West Indies, was the perfect time to look at blooding some new players into an aging team.
“They could have given some new guys some really good time out in the middle of this summer and backed them in. That’s going to be much harder across the next two summers when India and England visit for a five-Test series,” Mitchell Johnson added.
Australia now leads the three-match Test series 1-0. Throughout the four days of the Perth Test, they put on a really good all-around performance. For Nathan Lyon and Australia, Day 4 was momentous.
They provided us with excellent cricket and fulfilled all our expectations. Pakistan was taken aback by the challenging circumstances and found it difficult to adapt. They would look to improve moving forward and use this experience as a teaching tool.
Pakistan collapsed on a track that was spicy all through and got worse as the match went on, with balls that crawled low and deliveries that reared, despite only lasting 30.2 overs in their second innings.
Australia declared 30 minutes into the second session, and Pakistan, needing to win by 450 runs, was easily defeated by Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins’ outstanding bowling.
They had a difficult mission ahead of them to prevent losing Australia’s Test match for the fifteenth time in a row, and it went nearly as planned when Pakistan was destroyed in the first seven overs and reduced to 17 for 3.
When Abdullah Shafique, the opener, poked at a frightening delivery outside off by Starc in the opening over, he was caught behind. Compared to Pakistan’s opening innings, Starc bowled with significantly greater consistency, taking his 200th wicket in a Test match at home.
After driving carelessly, Captain Shan Masood was caught behind off Hazlewood and dismissed for just two. Even though Masood scored a brisk thirty in Pakistan’s opening innings, it was a difficult start for him as captain; his side was unable to play the aggressive cricket he had vowed to play before the series.
