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Warner out to surpass greats in 100th ODI

David Warner is set to reach a special milestone in Bengaluru and break an Australian batting record in the process

Already affirmed as one of Australia's best-ever one-day players, David Warner could surpass some more greats of the 50-over game in his 100th ODI on Thursday.

Australia's match against India in Bengaluru will bring up a century of one-day internationals for Warner, who debuted almost eight years ago as a dashing 22-year-old without any first-class cricket to his name.

And the vice-captain acknowledges he's come a long way from that brash opener who announced himself on the international stage in a T20 against South Africa in Melbourne in early 2009, a week before his first ODI.


"It's a significant milestone for myself and my family," Warner said on Wednesday.

"I'm extremely proud of where I am today, coming from playing a Twenty20 game at the MCG to being called up a couple of games later to represent Australia in the ODI format. 

"I never thought it would come so fast.

"I learnt a lot over the early stages of my career of how to play the (50-over) game. You can't come out and tonk the ball from ball one like in Twenty20 cricket.

"I've adapted that approach through four-day cricket and playing Test match cricket has allowed me to play the game properly and show myself that there's a lot more time in 50-over cricket than 20-over cricket.

"To be established from where I was, I'm proud of that."

Fielding mishap rules Agar out of India tour

Warner's current tally of 4093 career runs means he's guaranteed to overtake Dean Jones (3857 runs after 100 games) as the most prolific Australian batsman after 100 career matches.

And he could move to as high as second on the all-time list if he fires at the traditionally batter-friendly M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.

While the mark of South African star Hashim Amla (4808 runs after 100 games) may never be broken, Warner has the records of Indian rival Virat Kohli as well as West Indies greats Sir Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge in his sights.

A score of 15 or more on Thursday will see him pass Kohli's mark (4107), 54 or more will put him ahead of Richards (4146) and 85-plus runs will see him top Greendige (4177) and move into the second spot.

It's a remarkable rise for the left-hander, who had under-whelmed in one-day cricket until the start of last year; having scored four centuries in his first six years as an ODI player, Warner will head into Thursday's match with 13 three-figure scores to his name.

"When I first came into the (one-day) set-up we had Pup (Michael Clarke), Smithy (Steve Smith) and Mike Hussey, guys that were such good finishers," he explained.

"So I thought my role was to just go out there and blast it for 15 or 20 overs. And you don't realise that you're there to bat 50.

"In the last 18 months, I've had such a consistent patch because I've learnt to adapt that mentality and if I get myself in, to try and be there at the 35- or 40-over mark and go on with it.

"I pride myself on that. Setting a benchmark of 150, as an opener if you get in, that should be the benchmark."

India power to unassailable series lead in Indore

With a career winning rate of 57 per cent and a batting average of 44, Warner has enjoyed great success in the one-day arena, but he and his side are facing a challenge no Australian team has ever faced before.

After 11 defeats from their past 13 ODIs away from home (including two wash-outs), the Aussies are facing the prospect of finishing the series as the world's fourth-ranked side if India are able to complete a series sweep.

Warner has had an indifferent series so far, with scores of 25 and 1 followed by a quickfire 42 in Indore before he was bowled by Hardik Pandya. And the 30-year-old credited India's in-form pace attack, led by IPL teammate Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, for restricting Australia's batsmen in the first three games.

"Coming here to play ODI cricket for the first time has been a little bit different," he said having missed Australia's 2013 tour here.

"That's probably the toughest conditions I've faced from a white-ball point of view. It swung a lot more than it did in England.

"I obviously didn’t make the most of getting in (on Sunday) so that's probably a thing to reflect on and hopefully I can bring it out here in the next game and go on with it.

"As I always say, form is temporary but class is forever and that's what I always live by."


Australia's Qantas Tour of India

Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

Australia T20 squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Jason Behrendorff, Dan Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa.

India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

ODI Fixtures


September 17: India won by 26 runs (DLS Method)

September 21: India won by 50 runs

September 24: India won by five wickets

September 28: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

October 1: VCA Stadium, Nagpur


T20 Fixtures


October 7: JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi

October 10: Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati

October 13: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad