'Twitter ranting' Warner calls for ban on IPL spot-fixers

Australian Test batsman David Warner has said that the Indian players caught in the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal should be banned from cricket.

In a candid interview with Malcolm Conn, one of the journalists, whom Warner insulted on Twitter along with another journalist Robert Craddock for an article by Craddock on the seedier side of the IPL, the cricketer appeared to move on and settled for a handshake and a chat to resolve their differences, News.com.au reports.

On the subject of the IPL spot-fixing, Warner said that he was in favour of a ban for the three cricketers belonging to the Rajasthan Royals franchise, including Indian Test batsman S.Sreesanth, adding that all his team members were stunned when Shaun Tait was wrongly implicated in the scandal.

Meanwhile, Warner expressed his surprise at the Twitter exchange between him and the journalists and had apologised for offending them, although he added that the people should have looked on the exchange as someone speaking their mind and having their freedom of speech.

However, Warner said that although he regretted using offensive language, he is still going to speak his mind in the future, albeit in a more professional tone.

Stating that he looked forward to playing in the back-to-back Ashes series, Warner said that the English-experienced Michael Hussey and AB De Villiers had warned him against keeping an aggressive mindset and instead work on his technique and study the conditions in the country.

Stating that he wanted to continue being an opener, Warner said that he prefers batting in the opening position than in the middle order as he gets nervous while waiting to bat when he is in the fourth position.