David Warner Considers Retiring from T20Is After 2021 World Cup

David Warner has hinted at retiring from Twenty20 Internationals after the T20 World Cup in India next year.

Warner, who won the Allan Border Medal at the Australian Cricket awards on Monday, said he’d be willing to sacrifice T20Is to prolong his career following the two T20 World Cups.

“I don’t have a BBL team; I took a break during this period, and that was about my body and my mind, making sure I’m getting ready for the next series that comes up,” Warner, 33, was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “If you look at T20 internationals, we’ve got back-to-back World Cups as well, that’s probably a format that could be one I’d probably drop in a few years.

“I have to look at the schedule, it’s going to be very difficult to play all three forms, and good luck to all the guys who want to keep playing that. You talk to guys like AB de Villiers and Virender Sehwag, these guys who’ve done it for a long time, it does become challenging. Having three young kids and my wife at home all the time, the constant travelling becomes very difficult. If it was to come down to one format, it would probably be the international T20s.”

Warner said he skipped the Big Bash League to manage his workload, and also explained that it would be unfair to take spots of other players who play through the tournament.

“For me it’s about working out timeframes with different series, identify when you need a bit of a rest,” Warner sad. “Generally, we play a Test series and go into a one-day series. We went to India and then generally you have a one-day series at home, back-to-back games and then you go away. So, it was a bit different this year; I was able to have that opportunity to have that break which I’m grateful for.

“A lot of the guys try to go back and play as much as they can. Sometimes, you look at the finals as an example, they come back and play the final, you’re taking someone’s spot as well, which is always tough as a player, you don’t want to come back and just take someone’s spot for one game. So, this opportunity was great for these guys to go out and play, and to see (Steve) Smithy and Gazza (Nathan Lyon) and them take part in it and win the title is fantastic.”

Warner said it was difficult to return to the international set up after serving a year-long ban for the ball-tampering saga, and thanked the Australian cricketing fraternity for being with him through the tough phase.

“I had no doubt that I had the capability of being back here again. It was obviously a lot of hard work and commitment to be able to put my hand back up for selection for one, and go away and just do what I know best and that’s to try and score as many runs as I can in any competition I was playing in,” Warner said. “There was obviously a lot of work behind the scenes to reintegrate the three of us and I really appreciate the way that unfolded and the way we were reintegrated back into the team and into the fold, and that was by having net sessions as well at the Test matches, keeping our sharpness up against quality bowling, and I’m extremely grateful for that.

“There were tough times there with me and, my wife having two miscarriages, there were a lot of things going on in my life away from cricket that I had to work on, and I was able to do that and that was the thing about not having cricket there. I had to work out what was going to be best for me. I had to work on my fitness, me and my wife are a great team, we have three beautiful daughters, and we really enjoy each other’s company.”