IND vs AUS 2023: I would drop David Warner – Mitchell Johnson

Former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson wants the selectors to drop David Warner from the second Test match against India. Warner hasn’t been in the best of forms in the recent past, except for scoring a double century in the pink-ball Test match against South Africa.

Warner could only return with scores of 1 and 10 in the first Test match against India at Nagpur, which Australia went on to lose by an innings and 132 runs.

The left-hander was cleaned up by Mohammed Shami in the first innings and then he was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin in the second dig. Furthermore, Warner has a paltry average of 22.16 in the Indian conditions as he has scored 399 runs in nine Test matches.

Johnson wants Travis Head to be part of the final XI in the second Test match and feels Matt Renshaw should be promoted to the opening slot.

In a column for Western Australian, Mitchell Johnson wrote, “I would drop David Warner, elevate Matthew Renshaw to open and bring Travis Head into the middle order. If it’s about a horses for courses policy based on previous form in the subcontinent, why didn’t that apply to Warner? That’s where it got murky for me.”

On the other hand, former Australian skipper Mark Taylor wants David Warner to get one more opportunity before being shown the exit door.

He told Wide World of Sports: “David’s been around long enough, and I know he’s had plenty of opportunities [but] I think you’ve got to give him at least the next Test match to get it right.

“As Warner and Usman Khawaja found out, they bat at the top of the order and faced Ravi Ashwin with the new ball, and then four overs later got Ravi Jadeja. So it doesn’t really matter where you bat; you’re going to face the same stuff. So I would be sticking with the top two at the moment.”

Meanwhile, Australian head coach Andrew McDonald has backed David Warner and hinted that he will play the second Test match despite not being in the best of forms.

“We haven’t discussed that at all. We’ll discuss the performance of the first Test match. We haven’t even got into a selection discussion.

“The benefit out of losing the game so quickly is we’ve got a little bit more think time to work through what scenarios are for us and that starts today. It’s a sample size of one game, in Nagpur.”

The second Test match between these two teams will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi from Friday onwards.