Warner to exit BPL early with injury

David Warner will return to Australia next week to be medically assessed after reporting elbow pain while playing in the Bangladesh Premier League.

A Cricket Australia spokesperson confirmed today Warner will head home on Monday, January 21, to have his injury assessed.

While the extent of the injury remains unknown, Warner will continue to play for the Sylhet Sixers before he departs, meaning he will feature in matches on the 18th and 19th.

Warner follows Steve Smith in leaving the T20 tournament early with an elbow issue.

Smith arrived home from Bangladesh last week and immediately had surgery on his right elbow.

The 29-year-old will be in an arm brace for six weeks before continuing his rehabilitation.

The 12-month bans Smith and Warner are serving for their involvement in the Cape Town ball-tampering incident expire on March 28.

Around that time, Australia are expected to play five one-day internationals against Pakistan in the UAE, with the final two matches of that series believed to be after the bans are lifted.

But the fixtures for that tour are yet to be confirmed by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Warner has been somewhere near his best in the BPL, posting two half-centuries in five innings including a bizarre unbeaten 61 overnight.

Late in his innings, Warner changed from his customary left-handed stance to right-handed and dispatched West Indian Chris Gayle for 14 from three balls.

He started with a straight drive down the ground for six before sweeping the off-spinner to the rope and then reverse-sweeping – which was in fact a conventional sweep for the southpaw – for another boundary.

"It was one of those things at the back of my mind as I couldn't get Chris (Gayle) away because of his height and the lengths that he was bowling," Warner said at the post-match presentation of his decision to try batting right-handed.

"I play golf right-handed, so I thought I might as well come and swing and clear the ropes.

"It came off."