On this day in 2019: David Warner makes a stunning return after the ball-tampering ban

David Warner served a one-year ban for his role in the ball-tampering scandal on the South Africa tour and then he went through a lean patch in the Ashes series in England. Despite having a decent World Cup in between, the southpaw was struggling in the red-ball format and the home series against Pakistan came as a magic wand for Warner.

The first Test between the two teams was played in Brisbane and David Warner made the game a memorable one for him. After losing the toss, Australia skittled Pakistan out for just 240 runs and then the visitors needed quick wickets to have any chance in the game.

But David Warner and Joe Burns had other ideas as the duo pummelled their inexperienced bowling attack. After a few nervy moments at the start, Warner began opening up and soon, the game started to drift away from Pakistan.

Much to Australia’s relief, David Warner was batting like he was doing before being banned and Burns also batted well to play second fiddle to him. Warner, in the process, slammed 154 runs even as the opening duo added 222 runs for Australia.

NASEEM SHAH GETS HIS FIRST INTERNATIONAL WICKET! ?

David Warner departs for 154(296) – his longest Test innings ever. Australia are 351/2 now ?

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details ➡ https://t.co/NomtfpAsHA #AUSvPAK #CricketForAll pic.twitter.com/4WQP7SEkxa

— Cricingif (@_cricingif) November 23, 2019

David Warner played a scintillating knock of 154 runs off 296 balls with 10 fours and tormented Pakistan bowlers for a huge 444 minutes. By the time he got out, Australia had already taken a lead of 111 runs and it was youngster Naseem Shah who got his wicket. Given the domination of the Aussies, it was not surprising to see the hosts win the game by an innings and five runs to take a lead.

Most importantly, their main opener David Warner coming back in form was the biggest positive.