Australian opener David Warner bid farewell to his 15-year international cricket career after Afghanistan bagged a victory over Bangladesh in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 on Tuesday, eliminating the Kangaroos from the tournament.
The decision comes as Afghanistan’s latest victory marked Australia’s exit from the tournament in the Super 8 stage, confirming a subdued farewell for Warner.
With appearances in 110 T20I innings, the 37-year-old opening batsman scored 3,277 runs, including a century and 28 half-centuries, at a formidable strike-rate of 142.47.
He had already announced that the T20 World Cup 2024 would be his last tournament and had played his final ODI in November's World Cup final win over India while his last Test was against Pakistan in January.
Before Afghanistan's match against Bangladesh, pacer Josh Hazlewood had stated that the timing of Warner's send-off from his teammates would rely on the result of the same match.
"Nothing's been said yet," Hazlewood said. "It might be said after this [press conference] before the [evening] game, but I think we'll wait until after the game and then we'll [acknowledge] the career that's been. It's been unbelievable. We'll definitely miss him around the group, out in the field and off-field - an amazing all-format career."
On Warner's farewell, Hazlewood said: "We've had a little taste of it. It's sort of been a slow burn with Test cricket and ODI cricket, and now T20. Life without him, we've sort of gotten used to it a little bit in New Zealand. It's always different when you lose a player that's been there for so long. But we'll move on and push forward."
Speaking before Australia's World Cup exit, Warner’s opening partner Travis Head said it would be a "disappointing" manner for Warner's career to culminate.
"We'll be disappointed if it ended like that, where we have to watch another game. A lot has been said about what he's contributed to Australian cricket at the top of the order in all formats,” Head said.
"He goes down as our best multi-format player. He'll be missed at the top of the order, but let's hope [tonight] is not the end of it. We'll wait and see but we'll give him a send-off tonight if that is the case later on. It might be a bit of a late one if the fixture finishes the way it has. But a lot has been said about how good Davey has been at the top of the order."
