Usman Khawaja claims David Warner sacrificed his image for the good of Australian cricket and the aggressive opening bat never wanted to be the attack dog he was told he was.
But Khawaja was heartened that when Warner took to the Test pitch for the last time, his childhood friend was now playing the game he loved in the way he had always wanted.
Warner, who was bowled out for 34 in the first innings of the final Test on Thursday, slipped after catching and bouncing the ball from the hands of spin all-rounder Agha Salman.
“He’s been playing really well this series,” Khawaja said.
“He just made a shot today and sometimes you just have to deal with that.”
Warner left the field admonishing himself for not taking advantage of SCG’s wicket, but his home fans gave him a standing ovation.
The warm reception was a far cry from previous public perceptions of Warner, who was a polarizing figure even before he was implicated in the 2018 ball-tampering incident.
Warner earned the nickname “The Bull” for his relentless attacks on opponents with his bat and words.
His approach to the game epitomized the Australian cricket team’s “win at all costs” mentality in the post-Sandpapergate cultural retrospective.
But Khawaja, who has known Warner since they were teenagers, said his opening partner never wanted to play a pantomime villain.
“He was doing things in front of people for a long time there,” Khawaja said, recalling his friend’s career.
“But David wasn’t always like this.
“The coaching staff and certain people told him to play a certain way.
“He’s a team player and if you ask him to do something, he’ll do it for the team. That’s the frustrating part when people come to him.
“He always puts himself second and the team first.”
Warner shed his “Bull” nickname after serving a one-year ban for ball-tampering.
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From that moment on, Khawaja was delighted to see his friend’s true face shining through.
“Since David Warner has come back, you’ve seen a very different person,” he said.
“He scored, he did it in his own way, he played the game in a very good way.
“You can tell he’s smiling a lot on the pitch and he’s doing things that David Warner way, which is really nice to see at the end of his career.”
That’s why Khawaja became emotional when speaking about his friend’s impending retirement and witnessing the reception he received on what could be the last time the pair shared the crease.
“It’s great to see people rally around him because I believe he deserves it, I really do,” he said.
“We won’t be able to play after this. It’s going to be sad for sure. Even talking about it now, I think about the journey we’ve been on and it’s going to be very exciting.
“But this is not the end of our lives, or hopefully not.
“Hopefully we get to spend more time together, on the golf course or commentary or whatever it may be. I’m sure there will be some good times in the future.”
