Australian Test gun Usman Khawaja is confident his opening partner, David Warner, will bounce back after criticism emerged surrounding his form.
Warner, who withdrew from his attempts to overturn his leadership ban during the West Indies Test series, has scored only one half century in his last 10 innings.
Australia dominated the West Indies in a two-match series, and Warner only managed a top score of 48 while teammates Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne both averaged over 100.
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While doubts have surfaced, Khawaja is certain the 36-year-old’s class will shine through and admitted “no one can score runs all the time”.
“He’s still going about his training really well, he’s still in good spirits and playing well,” Khawaja said on SEN.
“That’s just his experience, he knows he is a quality player and that nothing lasts forever.
“Like himself and all of us do, we know he’s going to score runs at some stage.”
Australia’s coach, Andrew McDonald echoed Khawaja’s opinion and is adamant Warner is in his plans for the upcoming tour of India, Ashes and World Test Championship Final.
“His appetite for the work, in and around training is still there,” McDonald said.
“He’s busy at the crease, and you’ve seen signs that he is going well.
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“He’s just found different ways to get out, and sometimes that can happen.
“He’s eager to continue on at this stage, he hasn’t hinted anything else.
“We are building towards a World Test Championship (final), and he wants to be part of that so that’s a clear focus for us and we’ve got South Africa as a part of that and then on to India (for four Tests in February-March next year).
“So there’s no indication of anything else at the moment.”
Speaking in November, Warner revealed he has plans to retire in the next 12 months and admitted Test cricket will be his first format he is willing to give up.
While he indicated he wants to continue to play for Australia in the white ball formats, Khawaja doesn’t believe his teammate will be pulling up stumps anytime soon.
“Not even close,” Khawaja replied.
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“I think he’ll go on and he’s got plenty more to give, that thought hasn’t even crossed our mind if I’m being honest.”
Last week, Warner’s manager, James Erskine, unloaded on Cricket Australia and made some explosive claims surrounding the ball tampering saga that saw his client spend 12 months away from International cricket.
Speaking on SEN 1170, Erskine said he believes more players were involved in the 2018 tampering saga, and even said the public’s opinion would change when they learned the “truth”.
“When the truth comes out, everyone’s going to turn around and say ‘well, why was David Warner picked upon?’” he told SEN.
“The truth will come out. Let me tell you. Someone will… there’s lots of people. There’s two cricketers who put their hands up and said ‘why don’t we all just tell the truth? They can’t fire all of us’. That’s what happened.”
