With the Australian cricket contingent currently in the Maldives following their departure from India after the suspension of the Indian Premier League, reports had emerged on Saturday that David Warner and Michael Slater had been involved in a physical exchange at a bar in the Maldives. Australian media house The Daily Telegraph had reported that Warner and Slater had engaged in a brawl inside the Taj Coral Resort in the Maldives where the pair are staying.
Warner and Slater are long-time friends, but the reports suggested that the two had a disagreement, which got heated and later went out of hands. However, Warner and Slater have addressed the rumours, saying there is no truth to it and that the two continue to be really close friends.
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"There is absolutely nothing to the rumour mill Buzz. Davie and I are great mates and absolutely zero chance of (having) a fight," Slater reportedly texted a senior journalist of the publication.
Warner, who is part of the 40-member Australian contingent to have flown to the Maldives on a chartered flight organised by the BCCI, straight up denied the reports, saying there is absolutely no substance to the rumours.
"There has been no drama. I don’t know where you get these things from. Unless you were here and have got concrete evidence you can’t write anything. Nothing happened," read Warner's text as per The Daily Telegraph.
{{/usCountry}}"There has been no drama. I don’t know where you get these things from. Unless you were here and have got concrete evidence you can’t write anything. Nothing happened," read Warner's text as per The Daily Telegraph.
{{/usCountry}}Warner was recently snubbed as captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad, a team he had led to an IPL title in 2016 and for which he had thrice won the Purple Cap. Following a poor run in IPL 2021 which saw SRH slip to the bottom of the points-table with just one win from seven matches, Warner was replaced by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson as the new leader of the team. Surprisingly, Warner did not even feature in the Playing XI of Sunrisers' last game of the season before the tournament was suspended indefinitely.
Slater on the other hand was part of the IPL's commentary panel and had recently addressed Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison for imposing a travel ban from India and not allowing citizens to enter the country before May 15, when the border restriction ends.