Top 5 David Warner knocks in ODIs

Veteran Australian opener David Warner shocked the cricketing world on the first day of the new year as he announced his retirement from the ODI format with immediate effect. Warner is set to play his farewell Test against Pakistan in Sydney, but his ODI retirement was something no one saw coming.

The numbers that the southpaw has in the one-day format are enough to suggest why he will go down as one of the greatest to have played 50-over cricket. In 159 ODI innings, Warner scored a staggering 6932 runs at an average of 45.30 with as many as 26 hundreds to his name.

Among the 26 tons, seven were scores of more than 150 and that showed how much he loved to convert his hundreds into big ones. A modern-day great, here are five of the best ODI knocks played by David Warner:

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#5 163 (157) vs Sri Lanka, Brisbane, 2012

David Warner's blitz proved to be the difference between the two sides in a closely fought first game of the best-of-three finals between Australia and Sri Lanka. The southpaw scored 163 off just 157 balls and helped the hosts post a mammoth 321/6 in their 50 overs.

At 144/6, it seemed like Sri Lanka were going to lose with a massive margin. However, an incredible partnership between Upul Tharanga and Nuwan Kulasekara kept the visitors in the game. Kulasekara's 73 off just 43 balls was an astonishing knock given the circumstances, but Sri Lanka fell short of the target by 15 runs.

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#4 166 (147) vs Bangladesh, Nottingham, 2019

Another high-scoring game where Warner's innings proved to be the point of difference was during this 2019 World Cup game against Bangladesh. David Warner turned back the clock with a sensational 166 off just 147 balls and Australia piled up a mountain of a target of 382 for Bangladesh to chase down.

Shaik Al Hasan was in red-hot form in the World Cup and thus his wicket for 41 proved to be a crunch moment in the chase. While Mushfiqur Rahim did score a century and there were other handy contributions, Bangladesh ended up with 333/8. Despite the loss, it was a spirited effort to challenge the Aussies.

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#3 173 (136) vs South Africa, Cape Town, 2016

Australia had a pretty horrible ODI series against South Africa back in 2016 as they couldn't win even a single game. A fine hundred from Rilee Rossouw had helped the Proteas post 327/8 in the fifth ODI of the series in Cape Town.

The visitors needed to win the game to avoid a whitewash and it was David Warner once again who gave them a great chance with his blistering knock. The southpaw scored 173 off just 136 balls and it felt like he would take them over the line. But things went downhill after he was run out and Aussies ended up being bundled out for 296.

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#2 178 (133) vs Afghanistan, Perth, 2015

David Warner single-handedly destroyed the Afghanistan bowling attack during the 2015 World Cup with a staggering 178-run knock in just 133 balls. His partnership with Steve Smith followed by absolute carnage from Glenn Maxwell allowed Australia to post a mammoth 417/6 in their 50 overs.

The Afghan spirits must have understandably taken a hit after that explosive innings from Australia and they could only muster 142 in reply. It was just one of those games where a rampant Warner decided the result of the game with his own bat.

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#1 179 (128) vs Pakistan, Adelaide, 2017

David Warner's highest ODI score came up against Pakistan back in 2017 in another high-scoring game at the Adelaide Oval. Warner and Travis Head had an opening partnership of as many as 284 runs as Pakistan could only strike first blood in the 42nd over.

Warner would have rued a missed opportunity to score a double hundred, but his knock was still good enough to set up yet another massive score for the Aussies. Babar Azam did score a hundred in reply, but he couldn't get much support from other Pakistan batters as the target of 370 ended up being a bit too much for them, losing by 57 runs.