Australian opening batter David Warner has responded to former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif over the latter’s statement about India being the ‘best team on paper’ despite the loss in the ICC World Cup 2023 final.

Indian team gave a dominant performance in the ICC World Cup 2023, remaining undefeated in ten games before the final, where they lost to Australia, who won their sixth World Cup title.

Mohammad Kaif, while talking to an Indian channel after the match claimed that ‘India is the best team on paper.’

“I can never accept that the best team has won the World Cup. The Indian Team is the best team on the paper,” said Kaif.

“The way Rohit Sharma’s team has played, my chest swells with pride, it was just a bad day, it happens in the game,” he further added.

His statement garnered several reactions from the cricket fraternity, including Australian broadcaster Glenn Mitchell, who took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and reminded Mohammad Kaif that “World Cup finals are won on the cricket field and not on paper”.

David Warner also joined the fray and quoted Mitchell’s post with his own response stating that it does not matter which team is better on paper.

“I like MK [Mohammad Kaif], issue is it does not matter what’s on paper. At the end of the day you need to perform when it matters. That’s why they call it a final. That’s the day that counts and it can go either way, that’s sports. 2027 here we come,” posted Warner.

Moreover, Warner ended the post with ‘2027 here we come,’ warning other teams that Australia are eyeing another World Cup win four years down the line.

David Warner was the highest run-scorer for Australia and the fifth-highest run-scorer during the ICC World Cup 2023 with 535 runs at an average of 48.63 with two centuries.

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