Mitchell Johnson explains why he fired shots at outgoing Aussie opener David Warner

Mitchell Johnson earlier raised question on David Warner’s farewell test.

The controversy between Mitchell Johnson and David Warner has taken a new turn after a few former Australian players got involved in it. The former pacer took the cricket world by storm when he questioned whether the veteran Australian opener, who was involved in the infamous “Sandpapergate” scandal, deserved a farewell test or was called the hero of the game.

Notably, Warner confirmed that the upcoming test series against Pakistan will be his last international appearance in red-ball cricket for Australia. The three-match test series will start with the first game on December 14 at Perth. Notably, it is the home ground for the Southpaw, and it will be his last test on his home ground. Warner’s test form is not good, but despite that, the selectors have added him to the squad.

Mitchell Johnson reveals why he questions David Warner’s retirement

Tim Paine, Usman Khawaja, Michael Clarke, and George Bailey came in support of the veteran opener Warner and slammed Johnson over his remark. However, the former pacer has revealed why he made that statement and criticized Warner and Bailey. He revealed that it has more of a personal side to it. Johnson wrote in his column in The West Australian how Warner’s wife Candice texted him a quite personal message.

Johnson stated, “I tried to ring (Warner) to talk to him about it. It was never a personal thing then. Until that point, that is what prompted me to write the article, or part of it. Some of the things that he mentioned in that message, I won’t say because that’s up to Dave to say. I’m just writing a piece that I felt I needed to write. It’s basically having a dig at someone’s mental health. It sort of tries to downplay the questions that I’ve asked in that article. It seems very childish from George and condescending.”

The pacer admitted that being a media person now, he has to talk about what he thinks about the game. Notably, both Johnson and Warner have played for a period of five years together on the same team. These two were also part of Australia’s 2015 World Cup-winning squad. The pacer retired in August 2018, while Warner is at the end of his career.

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