"He should be very proud of what he's done": Ricky Ponting's touching tribute to David Warner

Veteran cricketer David Warner's time as Australia's crafty, competitive, ball-blasting opening batter is finally over after the team was eliminated from the ICC T20 World Cup after a long and drawn-out process.

Veteran cricketer David Warner's time as Australia's crafty, competitive, ball-blasting opening batter is finally over after the team was eliminated from the ICC T20 World Cup after a long and drawn-out process. He's done it all in numerous forms, and another former Australian top-order champion has urged Warner to enjoy and reflect. Australia great Ricky Ponting pulled his compatriot aside following Australia's loss to India to offer some advice, as Warner adjusts to life without international cricket on the calendar.

Ponting, of course, underwent this process about a decade ago. "(I) put my arm around him. I said, '...just take a moment tonight to sit back by yourself and reflect on what's been an unbelievable career across all three formats for Australia. We know he retired in the summer from test cricket, but you'll struggle to find a guy that's had as big an impact on all three forms in Australian cricket than David Warner has," Ponting recounted on ICC's Digital Daily Show as quoted by ICC.

"I've been able to play with him, I've been able to coach him in the IPL the last couple of years and I really enjoy his company. So he should be very proud of what he's done," he added. In his twilight, Warner remained as destructive with the bat as ever, hitting two fifties in the Caribbean and assisting the Australians on a deep run. However, after losing to Afghanistan and India, the team was unable to advance to the last four.

It's back to the drawing board for the green and gold, which will lead to a new Warner-less reality. Warner's final appearance, against India on Monday, was an anti-climax: he made six runs off six balls, edging Arshdeep Singh to slip where Suryakumar Yadav took a good low catch. He punched his bat with his right hand in frustration, then walked off the pitch with his head bowed, not knowing whether this was his last game, there was no guard of honour or standing ovation.

After the game, he was pictured chatting to India batter Virat Kohli on the outfield at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground and pacer Josh Hazlewood said that the timing of Warner's send-off from his team-mates would depend on the result of Afghanistan's late game against Bangladesh. "We'll definitely miss him around the group, out in the field and off the field," bowler Josh Hazelwood said after the team's loss to India.

"(An) amazing all-format career. It's sort of been a slow burn with Test cricket and ODI cricket and now T20. So, life without him, we've sort of gotten used to it a little bit ... it's always different when you lose a player that's been there for so long," he added. (ANI)

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