Warms Up for 100

On a warm March afternoon, a stocky Australian walked out of his hotel in central Bangalore, toddler in tow. So far, nothing unusual. Within minutes, though, the toddler was separated from daddy, seeking refuge with mum as locals descended on the young man to take selfies with him. David Warner may be able to walk the streets of Matraville, the rough Eastern Sydney suburb that he grew up in, in relative anonymity but anywhere in India he is instantly recognised.

It is back in Bangalore that Warner will playhis100thODI,completingafascinating journey from poor suburban Sydney boy to international star in all three formats. The very beginnings of Warner’s journey were unusual to say the least. When he made his Twenty20 debut in January 2011, Warner was the first Australian cricketer in 132 years to don national colours without having played first class cricket.

Although it has become fairly commonplace now, it would not be inaccurate to say that Warner was the first child of Twenty20 cricket to grow into the longer forms of the game. It’s easy to see why he would be a natural in the shortest format: aggression at the crease is the only way he knows to play, and therefore it’s no surprise that Virender Sehwag, at the Delhi Daredevils, took a shine to Warner. In fact, it was Sehwag who helped Warner take the first steps in bridging the gap between being a white-ball basher to a Test dominator.

The M Chinnaswamy Stadium is traditionallyahavenforbatsmen,thefast,short boundaries and true pitch giving maximum bang for buck to strokemakers. Yet, as with so much else, Warner has not really feasted in his limited international appearances here. In one T20, he made 17, hitting a full toss from Shakib al Hasan back to the bowler in the ICC World Twenty20. vs on STAR SPORTS In his only Test appearance at the venue, Warnermade33and17,scalpedbothtimes by R Ashwin. Warner has never played an ODI in Bangalore.

But, it has not been all doom and gloom at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was here in 2016 that Warner led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to victory in the IPL, the captain making 69 in a tight eight-run win over the Royal Challengers, capping off a season in which he had scored 848 runs. Warner admitted that he had come a long way, in life and in cricket. “It’s a significant milestone for myself and my family. It’s a dream come true to play even one game, but to come from playing that Twenty20 in Melbourne in front of 90,000 people to be called up a couple of games later to represent Australia in the ODI Matches Runs format... I’m extremely proud of where I am today,” said Warner. “I never thought I would come so far. I’ve learnt a lot in the early stages of my career. One, how to play the game; you can’t just come out and tonk it from ball one like in Twenty20 cricket. And I sort of adapted that approach to four-day cricket and then Test