NEW DELHI: As
David Warner
gears up for his final bilateral international series against New Zealand, the Australian veteran is not expecting a warm farewell from Black Caps fans in Wellington and Auckland.
At 37, Warner has bid adieu to Test and ODI cricket already. However, he's postponed his farewell from the shortest format of the game until after the upcoming T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and United States, scheduled for June.
Warner, who will open for Australia in Wednesday's Twenty20 series opener against New Zealand at Wellington Stadium and the two matches that follow at Eden Park, said he would not let any abuse affect his game.
"Over here, it's always the harsh reality that we're neighbours, in sport we like to beat each other," Warner told reporters in the New Zealand capital on Monday.
"From that perspective, we're going to be expecting the crowd to come at us as hard as they come. As we always say, it's in one ear, out the other – if I actually hear anything."
Warner described local fans as "derogatory and pretty vulgar" after the Australians were targeted for abuse during a test and ODI tour of New Zealand in 2016. "I enjoy playing here," Warner added.
"It's about coming out and trying to put my best foot forward, and score runs. "The crowd, yeah, they got personal, but if they have to get personal, that’s their character ... if you want to pay your money to come and abuse people, you have to go back and lay in your own bed.
"We're here to play the game of cricket that we love, enjoy and put bums on seats to keep the game going." Warner said he was going to continue his career in Twenty20 franchise leagues around the world for "another couple of years" .
Despite having also signed up to offer his opinions on the game through media work, Warner said he was not considering a career in politics. "Yeah, look, I'll leave that for another time," he said. "I think I'd get absolutely grilled if I was to go into politics."
(With inputs from Reuters)
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