David Warner in many ways is a one-of-a-kind Cricketer. He made his international white ball debut without playing any first-class Cricket and walked in as a player who loved being on top. With Matthew Hayden retiring, David Warner’s entry worked perfectly as Australia found another opener who could consistently get the scoreboard moving.

Aggressive openers were few in number in the previous era. There was Virender Sehwag for India, Chris Gayle for the West Indies, and Matthew Hayden from Australia. All three went on to have pretty strong Test Careers, which looked rather unlikely given the way Test Cricket was played once upon a time. For the last decade, David Warner has been the one for Australia across formats. Openers have been rotated around him but he remained as a constant part of the batting line-up throughout the last fifteen thirteen-od years.

His batting style back then was pretty unique, and it worked well as he managed to kill games up front, particularly in Test Cricket. The style though is not as unique now with the likes players coming out with a lot of intent in the current era. Warner though, doing so in the previous era looked like a true freak with his style of play, particularly at home.

At 36 though David Warner does realize his time is running out. He has already spoken about the 2024 T20 World Cup being his international swansong but is looking to call it a day in Test Cricket earlier. His Test career though may not be in his hands. Barring a double century at Sydney earlier this year, David Warner has been pretty poor in Test Cricket in recent times. His numbers away, in India, were negligible to his sides contributions speaking about his struggles away from home.

The selectors seems to have given him time up until the second Ashes Test, which is an indicator that his road seems to be running out. His record in England is pretty poor as well which leaves David Warner in a tough spot. After the World Test Championship Final he will be facing up against Stuart Broad, the bowler who made life hell for him last time around.

In the lead-up to the Ashes though David Warner has retained his pre-sandpapergate fearlessness. He has engaged in some media banter, commenting about Broad’s words of the last series being voided, indicating that David Warner means business this coming into the England tour. He has also mentioned that he will be on the aggressive side with the bat, not hesitating to go for his drives. To do so against England will be a pretty interesting stat given he played in Bazball fashion long before Bazball became a part of Test Cricket.

For a batter though who has done it all at home but looked pretty shaky overseas, the upcoming challenges have a lot riding. If he can manage to get past Mohammad Shami and Mohammad Siraj, and then later make it past Stuart Broad, there will be very little stopping David Warner from finishing as an all-format great. He has a World Cup, a T20 World Cup, an Ashes and a WTC Final in the next year and could well create something special as an opening batter who will be tough to replace for the Australians.