Aussie firebrand opener David Warner is aiming to celebrate his 35th birthday a day late with a big innings against Sri Lanka following some recent slim pickings.
But the left hander has laughed off suggestions that he is in some sort of terminal decline after sitting out most of the Sunrisers Hyderabad matches after just two games in the rescheduled IPL and scores of 0 and 2.
Warner then hit 0 and 1 in two warm-up games before making just 14 in the opening win over South Africa, but he has put Sri Lanka on notice that he is ready to go.
“From my perspective, I actually think people talking about my form is quite funny,” said Warner.
“I laugh at the matter because at the end of the day I've hardly played any cricket and then in the IPL I had two games and then they basically wanted to give all the other youngsters a crack.
“From my perspective, that's fine. And warm-up games are warm-up games for a reason.
“The other day against South Africa I got my benchmark back with where I should be with my feet and everything.
“I feel like I’m in a good space, I’m hitting the ball well in the nets, I couldn’t be any more ready to go.”
Warner took full toll on Sri Lanka the last time he played them in the format in 2019, hitting 217 runs in three innings without being dismissed.
And he has been tuning up for the contest by batting on polished concrete in order to be as sharp as possible for the pace he is expecting to be up against.
"At the moment I'm training on some synthetic wickets and polished concrete to get timing, rhythm and moving my feet so that's helping me,” he said.
“It's something I have done at home before. It's one of those things where you want to feel bat on ball, but it also makes you start moving your feet a little bit more.”
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