ICC World Cup 2019: Australia Lucky to Have David Warner in the Squad - Shane Watson

Former Australia cricketer Shane Watson feels the presence of David Warner in Australia’s World Cup squad will lift the morale of the whole team in the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019. Meanwhile, Warner has been out of international matches for over one year now due to the bans imposed by Cricket Australia for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Steven Smith has also made a return, but the recent controversy has taken a toll on his game which was evident during his batting for the Rajasthan Royals.

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On the other hand, David Warner has been in swashbuckling form in the ongoing tournament. He is currently the highest run-scorer with 574 runs from ten games at an average of over 70. He along with Jonny Bairstow has been instrumental for Sunrisers Hyderabad at the top. Warner’s form will be a massive advantage for the five-time world champions who enter the tournament as the defending champions. Australia had an awful outing in the last 18 months but have picked at the right moment.

Australia lucky to have Warner: Watson

They defeated Indian National Cricket team 3-2 at their home turf from 0-2 down. They backed their performance to complete a whitewash against Pakistan at the United Arab Emirates. And now with David Warner and Steven Smith returning, they face the problem of many. However, Shane Watson believes that Aaron Finch & Co are incredibly fortunate to have Warner in the team as he is a real match-winner.

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Watson also hailed the southpaw saying that he has scored runs consistently in the last four-five years and his recent form ahead of the World Cup will be a massive advantage.

“Australia will be very lucky to have him back into the team because he is a match-winner and a world-class batsman, one of the best in the world; he has the skills. In most IPLs, he scores a lot of runs. It is not the first time that he is scoring consistently. I don’t remember any tournament in the last four to five years where he hasn’t scored hell lot of runs,” Watson said to Sportstar.

Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) all-rounder Shane Watson finally stormed back to form with a match-winning knock of 96 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad last night at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Watson was due for a big score and played a fine innings to bring back Chennai to winning ways. Chennai have almost qualified for the playoffs; however, will look to keep the winning momentum going.