"We make Virat Kohli and Steve Smith great", claims David Warner

Australian opener David Warner has claimed that the openers' heroics at the start of the innings helped Indian captain Virat Kohli and Steve Smith become greats of the game. The Aussie explained how both the batsmen (Kohli and Smith) benefitted from his and Rohit Sharma's destructive batting at the top of the order.

Speaking at an Instagram live session yesterday, Warner hilariously took a jibe at Virat Kohli and Smith's herculean efforts down the order. He instead credited the two openers' explosive start against the faster bowlers as an important reason behind the middle-order pair's phenomenal run, especially in the limited-overs format.

Warner explained how the openers took the shine away from the new ball in the initial overs of the game, thereby helping the batsmen down the order to play freely and without any fear of the older ball doing much in the air or off the deck.

Warner said:

"People say Kohli and Smith are the best in the world... But we make Smith and Kohli because we take the shine off the ball. We have got an important job as openers."

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in CWC 2019

Both Sharma and Warner ended as the top two run-getters in the CWC 2019, scoring 648 and 647 runs respectively. The Indian opener hit five sublime tons while the Aussie opening batsman breached the three-figure mark thrice in the tournament.

This, in turn, helped the likes of Kohli and Steve Smith coming lower down the order as the openers had batted through the tricky initial period.

Virat Kohli and Steve Smith exhibited true sportsmanship on the field in the CWC last year

Virat Kohli amassed 443 runs and ended as the second-highest scorer for India in the tournament while Smith scored 379 runs and was placed behind Aaron Finch as the third-highest run-getter for his country.

Although, both Kohli and Smith didn't register any three-figure scores in the tournament, they played crucial roles in their respective team's journey to the semi-final stage. After India and Australia bowed out of the tournament at the penultimate hurdle, England defeated New Zealand by the barest of margins to bag the trophy at Lord's.

Virat Kohli along with Sachin Tendulkar during the CWC 2019