Australia are sweating over the fitness of in-form opening batsman David Warner ahead of their World Cup opener against Afghanistan after the he reportedly injured his right glute muscle, coach Justin Langer confirmed on Thursday.
“He was a bit sore on Wednesday. He’s just a bit sore in his right glute. He is desperate to play, he’d love to play like all 15 players would,” Langer was quoted saying in a media release on the ICC website.
The coach revealed that Warner was in good spirit and was very much keen to play against Afghanistan. However, the coach was quick to issue some caution.
“What I’ve expressed to him is that it’s really important to be fair to the other players as well. We don’t want to get to Saturday morning then make a call with a couple of guys wondering if they are going to play. The earlier the better, he knows that and collectively we’re really strong on that.
“We’ve got to make sure we don’t aggravate it early in a long tournament. He will open the first game if he’s fit.” he added.
Warner has been in scintillating for having scored 692 runs in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League. Australia would want their talisman to be available for crunch games and hence it won’t be a surprise if the opener sits out of the game against Afghanistan which is considered one of the weaker teams in the competition.
Usman Khawaja or Shaun Marsh could replace Warner in the team if he fails to be fit enough for Australia’s World Cup opener.
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