Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) took the harsh but right call of dropping their out-of-form former captain David Warner for the clash against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Monday night in Indian Premier League (Indian T20) 2021 at Dubai. Warner had been completely out of sorts as a batsman since returning to the playing XI in the second leg of Indian T20 2021 in the UAE, having skipped a few matches after he was removed as the captain of the franchise earlier this year.
While nothing can be claimed for certain as to what went wrong between Warner and Sunrisers Hyderabad team management, the separation of the two entities did not transpire in the healthiest of environments, which also took the cricket fraternity by surprise.
At times, The Bull gave away his image of being The Reverend and spoke against the team management and selectors for fielding those playing XIs that Warner did not necessarily agreed with for initial Indian T20 2021 matches in India. All that had confirmed the spread of deep cracks within the team.
There was a growing sense of differences of opinions between Warner, VVS Laxman (team mentor) and Tom Moody (director of cricket), and given that the team had lost 5 out of 6 matches in the Indian leg of Indian T20 2021, the writing was on the wall for Warner to be removed as SRH captain after his form with the bat began diminishing while the team stumbled from one loss to another.
But on Monday after SRH recorded only their second win in Indian T20 2021, head coach Trevor Bayliss revealed that Warner, along with a few other seniors in Kedar Jadhav and Shahbaz Nadeem, were left behind in the team hotel and were not brought to the stadium. The SRH management had decided to take those few young players and reserve players to the stadium in Dubai, who would normally not attend matches in the stadium. All this to give them a real-match experience.
The absence of Warner from the SRH dugout was meanwhile spotted by a few fans who took to social media to express their concerns. On the same evening, Warner, on his part, not only confirmed that he was not inside the stadium, but also went on to indicate that he will stay out of the SRH playing XIs for the remainder of the season for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
With Warner confirming the development, speculations began making rounds that the Australian cricketer, who will go down in the history as the biggest player SRH has ever fielded, a legend for the franchise for his innumerable feats, had run his course as the player for the Orange Army.
End of an era for David Warner and Sunrisers Hyderabad
Like Rohit Sharma for Mumbai Indians and Virat Kohli for Royal Challengers Bangalore, it would be tough to imagine a Sunrisers Hyderabad side without David Warner in it.
The diminutive Australian cricketer, known as well as criticised at times for his aggressive attitude with the bat as well as a player on the field, turned out to be the face of the SRH franchise.
Warner brought along qualities of tremendous man-management and encouraged camaraderie between the players. He himself went beyond his limits to make things work in the right direction. In the victorious season of Indian T20 2016, Warner found a way to bring the best out of Bangladeshi fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman, who was reportedly not fluent in the language that the Australian spoke, and vice-versa.
As the leader of the camp, Warner did not let anything hamper Sunrisers Hyderabad’s march towards victory which was historic. Under his captaincy, SRH were always considered among the best teams in Indian T20, and seldom did they fail to make it to the playoffs.
The good and the bad with Sunrisers Hyderabad
In March 2018, Australian cricket was rocked by the Sandpapergate scandal which brought into focus the role played by the incumbent leadership pair of Steve Smith and David Warner.
It was speculated that Warner had instigated his young opening partner Cameron Bancroft to rub the ball with the sandpaper from his cricket kit in order to generate reverse swing for the bowlers during the Cape Town Test of South Africa tour. The act was caught by one of the many cameramen present on the ground and what followed was an explosive series of events.
Smith and Warner were banned for one year each by Cricket Australia who set about handing extraordinary punishments for mistakes which international cricketers regularly make, which meant that both were also not eligible to play or lead their respective teams in the Indian T20 as well, effectively missing the entire 2018 edition.
For his part, Warner was handed a lifetime ban for holding any leadership role in Australian cricket, which made serious damage to the credibility and reputation of the world-renowned cricketer. Indeed, Cricket Australia had taken very seriously the damage done to the game in the country and their own image as one of the most powerful boards across the world.
After missing Indian T20 2018, Warner returned to the tournament and to their credit, Sunrisers Hyderabad reinstated the Australians as their captain even though Kane Williamson had shown incredible leadership qualities by guiding them into the final of the tournament in the previous season.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s decision to reinstate Warner as their captain spoke of great spirit, trust and belief which the franchise had on the Australian, something that eventually eroded to the extent of what now stands as a destroyed relationship between the two parties, a couple of years later.
David Warner’s imperious record with Sunrisers Hyderabad
If he has played his last match for Sunrisers Hyderabad, the left-handed aggressive batsman Warner will go down in history as their most successful batsman ever.
In 95 matches in the Indian T20 history starting from 2014 when Sunrisers Hyderabad picked Warner, he made 4,014 runs at an average of 49.55 with 40 half-centuries and 2 centuries. Warner is the only batsman to have scored more than 4,000 runs for the SRH team, with the second best being Shikhar Dhawan with 2,518 runs, who now plies his trade for Delhi Capitals.
Not only Warner has scored most centuries and half-centuries for SRH, he has also cracked a record number of 379 fours and 143 sixes, which is the highest in the history for the team. For SRH, Warner also holds the record of the highest individual total of 126 against Kolkata Knight Riders, which was recorded at the team’s home ground in Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad in April 2017.
At the same venue, Warner also scored a brilliant 55-ball hundred against RCB and his comeback match in March 2019 after the one-year ban, which also happens to be the third highest individual total for SRH in their Indian T20 history.
Warner led Sunrisers Hyderabad to their only title victory in 2016, and his record as captain is also the best for the franchise. In 67 matches, Sunrisers Hyderabad won 35 and lost 30 under the captaincy of Warner, who also holds the record of taking most catches for the Orange Army in the tournament history with 46 grabs in 95 matches.
As far as overall batting record is concerned, Warner has made 5,449 runs in 150 matches for both SRH and formerly Delhi Daredevils. The left-handed aggressive opening batsman is the highest run-getter among overseas batsmen — even better than AB de Villiers — and his overall placed at the fifth spot in the list behind the likes of Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina.
The road ahead for David Warner and Sunrisers Hyderabad
Warner stepped down from the role of captaincy of Sunrisers Hyderabad during the Indian leg of Indian T20 2021 also keeping in mind that his resignation from captaincy will also help the team strike better combinations and team balance.
On Monday, his replacement opening batsman Jason Roy smacked a rapid half-century to power Sunrisers Hyderabad to their only second victory in Indian T20 2021 after Warner was removed owing to poor form with the bat.
With Warner indicating that he is finished as a player for SRH team, it remains to be seen what lies in the future. By the look of it, Warner will be up for grabs in the mega auction that is set to be held ahead of Indian T20 2022 and with teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) looking for a strong captaincy option after Virat Kohli announced his decision to step down, Warner is being considered as one of the candidates.
