Australia opener David Warner announced his retirement from ODI cricket just two days before the start of his farewell Test match. Warner stated that while he will keep himself available for selection in the 2025 Champions Trophy if he is needed, he has been thinking about retirement earlier as well, especially after winning the World Cup in India earlier this year.
Warner has thus called time on one of the most prolific ODI careers in the history of Australian cricket. He made his ODI debut on January 18, 2009, against South Africa in Hobart. Since then, Warner played 161 ODIs in which he scored 6932 runs at an average of 45.30 and strike rate of 97.26. He scored 22 centuries and 33 half-centuries and his last match were the 2023 World Cup final against India in Ahmedabad, which Australia won by six wickets. At his peak, Warner was known for his aggression and was regarded by many as the most destructive opener in the world.
A legendary career in numbers His tally of 161 ODIs is the 18th highest for any Australia. However, Warner's 22 centuries is the second-highest for any player from the country. Only Ricky Ponting is above him with 29 centuries but the former Australian captain also played 205 more ODI innings than Warner. Warner also has joint eighth-highest ODI centuries of all time, with India's Virat Kohli (50 centuries) at the top. Warner is also the sixth-highest run-scorer in ODIs for Australia. His best score was 179 off 128 balls which he made against Pakistan in 2017. It is the fourth-highest score in ODIs by an Aussie, with Glenn Maxwell's 201 not out against Afghanistan in the 2023 World Cup at the top. Warner has won the World Cup twice and he was a star batter for Australia in both campaigns. He has a total of 1527 runs in World Cups, the sixth-highest by any batter, with Sachin Tendulkar (2,278 runs) at the top.
He is the second-highest Australian run-getter in WC history, with Ponting (1,743 runs) occupying the top spot. Warner leads the way for Australians with regards to centuries scored in the World Cup, having made six. He is joint-second in the all-time list with Tendulkar, behind India captain Rohit Sharma who has seven World Cup centuries to his name. Warner scored 345 runs in eight matches in the 2015 World Cup and 535 runs in 11 matches in 2023. He was Australia's highest run scorer in the latter. Warner had scored seven ODI centuries in 2016 alone. This is the second-most by any player in a calendar year in ODI cricket, behind Tendulkar's nine centuries in 1998. He had reached 4000 ODI runs in just 93 innings, the fastest by any Australian and the sixth fastest overall. Warner is the fastest Australian to reach 4000, 5000, and 6000 ODI runs.