Warner wants to be next Adam Gilchrist of Oz cricket

MELBOURNE - Dave Warner, who is the most destructive Twenty20 batsman in Australia, has said he can become the new Adam Gilchrist at the top of the Australian batting order.

“I see myself similar to Adam Gilchrist, more of an X-factor player. I try to mimic his role. I try to play the way he played. He was aggressive, he might have come off one in five innings but he changed the course of the game,” Warner said.

“Everyone was saying, right, we’ve got to get Adam out. If we don’t, he could put on a hundred in 10 overs. I look up to him as the kind of impact player I want to be,” he said.

“If I can get off to a good start and put the other team on the back foot, make them worry about how they’re going to get me out, we’ll be in a good position,” FOX Sports quoted Warner, as saying.

The resting of Shane Watson from the one-day series against India gives Warner a chance to end up as Watson’s opening partner for the 2011 World Cup.

The Kochi ODI denied an opportunity to Warner as the Nehru Stadium was flooded and the match was abandoned before it even began.

Warner is still left with two more matches, on Wednesday and Sunday, to book a ticket to the World Cup in February.

Warner knows people expect him to hit more balls out of more stadiums than Babe Ruth.

“It doesn’t faze me at all. It’s good to see that people are watching games of cricket to see balls getting hit into the crowd. Twenty20 is good entertainment and one-day cricket is the same. It’s no different,” he said.

“You’re still seeing the same people batting. I see every single form of the game as a form of entertainment. I’m going to keep doing what I do and if people like it, I’ll keep doing it,” Warner added. (ANI)