Andrew McDonald breaks silence on David Warner's retirement U-turn for BGT 2024-25

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has finally opened up on David Warner's desire to make a comeback into international cricket. Recently, Warner had expressed his willingness to be available for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series between Australia and India.

The former Australia opener claimed that he is ready to play a match in the Sheffield Shield and then make himself ready for the five-match Test series against India. He also added that he would put his hands up if the selectors needed him for the series.

Also read: 'Everyone plays aggressive cricket...': Akash Chopra calls for Cheteshwar Pujara's return to Test team

Andrew McDonald breaks silence on David Warner's comeback

While speaking to ABC TV's Offsiders, Andrew McDonald put an end to the discussion by saying that David Warner has retired and there have been no conversations with him about his U-turn on retirement.

"His comments, a lot of people ran with. David's retired and he had a magnificent send-off last year and we had no conversations about David coming back," Andrew McDonald said.

David Warner retired from Test cricket after the Sydney Test against Pakistan in early 2024. The left-hander scored a fiery half-century in his last Test innings, which ended on 57 off 75 balls.

David Warner played 112 Tests in his career in which he scored 8786 runs at an average of 44.59. He struck 26 hundreds and 37 fifties in his Test career. The left-handed opener is known to play an aggressive brand of cricket and played positively in Test cricket as well.

Andrew McDonald on Steve Smith's batting position

Meanwhile, Andrew McDonald also spoke on the decision to move Steve Smith back to the No. 4 spot in the batting order. After Warner's retirement, Steve Smith moved up to open the innings alongside Usman Khawaja.

But the move did not work for a long time as Smith's performance was below par in that role. As a result, Smith was moved back to his original middle-order spot. McDonald revealed the reason behind this change.

"On the back of New Zealand, we checked in around that opening position. We believe that this challenge, moving forward against India, the best thing for the team is to move Steve away from that opening position," the former Australia allrounder added.

Options for opening spots in the Australian team

With Steve Smith moving back to No. 4 and David Warner not coming back, Australia are likely to field a specialist opener for the role in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Sam Konstas, Cameron Bancroft, and Marcus Harris are some of those openers who can be a part of the squad.

Apart from one opening spot, the rest of the batting line-up is well-settled. Australia will also miss all-rounder Cameron Green as he has undergone surgery.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy will comprise of five Test matches beginning on November 22. The five Tests will be played in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.

India have won the Border-Gasaskar Trophy the last two times they have visited Australia by an identical margin of 2-1. This makes this series an extremely important one for both the teams.