Australian opener David Warner stated that the infamous sandpaper ball-tampering scandal has become a part of life and his name will always be linked to the saga whenever there’s a talk about him.
Warner was named the chief orchestrator of the scandal that changed Australian cricket and brought massive changes in the team’s culture and leadership.
Cameron Bancroft was given a nine-month ban for rubbing sandpaper on the ball while Warner and Steve Smith were suspended for a year and the latter was also removed from captaincy.
Warner opened up on the entire saga saying that he is still the only one who is subjected to criticism over the scandal.
"Coming back since 2018 I've probably... been the only one that's ever copped a lot of flak," Warner told News Corp and cricket.com.au in Antigua. "Whether it's people who don't like the Australian cricket team or don't like me, I've always been that person who has copped it.
"It's fine if they want to do that, but I always feel like I've taken a lot of pressure off a lot of guys as well and I think understandably I've been that person to be able to absorb that. But one can only absorb [so much]. For me, it's great to go out knowing I'm not going to cop it anymore."
He also admitted that even after 20 or 30 years, when people will talk about him there will always be mention of the sandpaper scandal before adding that people who know him will remember him as someone who tried to change the game.
"I think it's going to be inevitable that when people talk about me in 20 or 30 years' time, there will always be that sandpaper scandal," he said. "But for me, if they're real cricket tragics and they love cricket, [as well as] my closest supporters, they will always see me as that cricketer - someone who tried to change the game.
"Someone who tried to follow in the footsteps of the openers before me and try and score runs at a great tempo and change Test cricket in a way."
- David Warner
