Sunrisers Hyderabad, a certain name in the playoffs since 2016, has had a disappointing IPL 2021 until now. They have won only one game out of the seven matches they have played this season. In a bid to rectify their performance, SRH management on Saturday replaced David Warner, who led the team to their maiden victory in 2016, as the skipper. They have handed the job over to Kane Williamson for the remainder of the tournament.
Apart from sacking Warner from captaincy, the team management all together dropped Warner from the playing eleven too. His absence made little difference at the bottom of the table as Sunrisers suffered another defeat, Rajasthan winning by 55 runs. The sacking of Warner has caused a lot of debate in the cricket fraternity. SRH coach, Trevor Bayliss has said that the makeup of the SRH team is changing. Stating that they wanted more bowlers in the side, Bayliss justified the decision of leaving Warner out to bring Mohammed Nabi in the encounter against Rajasthan Royals.
Comments from Bayliss suggest that it looks unlikely that Warner will be returning to the playing eleven anytime soon. The Australian batsman has scored 193 runs in the 6 innings that he has played in IPL 2021 at an average of 32.17. His strike rate has been a cause of concern, but Warner is an extremely dangerous player once he gets back in form.
In fact, David Warner is the only player to win the orange cap three times and has accumulated amazing stats in his IPL career. Warner is the 5th highest run-scorer in the IPL and has amassed 5447 runs at an incredible average of 42.22. He also holds the record for most half-centuries for an overseas player. With four hundreds in his IPL career, Warner is probably one of the greatest batsmen in the history of IPL.
While talking to ESPNcricinfo, South African pacer Dale Steyn insisted that this might be the last time that the fans are witnessing Warner in the orange jersey. As per Steyn, the SRH team management might not have liked Warner opposing some decisions.
“I don’t know if David may have questioned some of the decisions, maybe when Manish Pandey was left out. Sometimes, the management doesn’t appreciate that, I guess. The captain of the team also needs to take ownership of his squad and who’s going out on the field. Seems like there’s definitely happening something behind closed doors, the public is not aware of.”
Steyn also added that maybe the management was thinking about the future, but David Warner is still a phenomenal batter and should be kept the eleven. It does look like Dale Steyn is right about the conflict between Warner and team management. There seems to be some sort of a conflict going on. Earlier, Tom Moody who is the director of cricket for SRH, stated that the 34-year-old Warner was shocked and disappointed at this decision.
Warner took to Instagram to post a couple of stories, where the southpaw was missing playing in Hyderabad, the home ground of the franchise, and in front of the fans. In the next story, he also thanked one of the fans for crafting his wonderful painting. Moreover, Warner’s brother also posted a picture on Instagram highlighting David Warner’s stats where he tagged the official page of SRH with a caption- “A bloke that has carried this team for years, your openers aren’t the issue how about getting a decent middle-order that scores some runs.”
Meanwhile, Skipper Kane Williamson has said that all cards are on the table, stating that ex-SRH captain David Warner is a world-class player and conversations will be held regarding his return to Hyderabad’s playing XI.