1 year ago
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BENGALURU: A slog sweep, a slog scoop or a whip scoop? One of David Warner's mammoth maximum off Pakistan pacer
Haris Rauf
hit the rooftop at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Friday. It was this showstopping performance which led
Australia
to victory against Pakistan.
The Australian opener loves his shots, but they are anything but fluke. To scoop the ball behind the square on the leg side, the opener retreated, crouched and with the ball in the 'arc' he unleashed the shot from the middle of his bat. It was a magician at work. Warner, 10 days shy of his 37th birthday, is always work in progress with plenty of tricks in his bag.
Against the pacers, the southpaw got under the length artistically and found the gaps at will. With the spinners, he was merciless, switching his batting studs for dancing shoes.
Warner says he banks more on instinct than process while going for the big ones.
"It's just pure instinct. I've faced him (Rauf) plenty of times and I know the line, length and the pace that he bowls. It's just one of those shots on a ground like this with a small boundary. If you get anything in your arc, you can just go with it. Rauf bowled it pretty much in my arc where I wanted him to bowl," explained Warner.
While Warner with his 124-ball 163 and
Mitch Marsh's 121 set the tone for a record-breaking total, the fact most batters who followed the openers gifted their wickets hampered the Aussies. "We missed a little bit with the bat. We set our platform up very well and we didn't execute as well as we would like as a batting unit to post what I thought 400 was probably on the cards from where we were," conceded Warner.
Pakistan have turned Warner's favourite punching bag. On Friday he recorded his fourth consecutive century against the opposition, which incidentally were on the other side when he struck his maiden Test triple hundred (335 n.o).
"You just match up well against certain teams and they're going to bowl you good balls. But I think you just keep backing yourself, Warner said.
HEAD CHECKS IN
Meanwhile, Australian chairman of selectors George Bailey confirmed that
Travis Head
, who had been ruled out of the initial matches due to a fracture, has arrived in India and will take the field soon.
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