Warner shuns IPL riches for national duty

Melbourne, March 23 (IANS) Australia's dashing opening batsman David Warner has finally chosen national duty over the riches offered by the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Warner, an IPL regular, said he would never play in the cash-rich Twenty20 league if he had to miss national duty.

The West Indies are likely to lose young spinner Sunil Narine and veteran batsman Marlon Samuels in the upcoming three-Test series against Australia to the IPL, which starts a week before the first Test in Barbados April 17, but Warner remains committed to Australia.

"My goal as a kid was to get the baggy green and I'm here at this moment opening the batting," Warner was quoted as saying by The Age.

"I'm trying to take my opportunity and trying to cement my place there. I'm 100 per cent Test cricket over IPL any day. They've (West Indians) got to make their minds up on what they want and what they're benefiting out of it - if it's money, then it's money. It's their choice," he said.