Although David Warner is eligible to feature in the 12th edition of Indian Premier League for Sunrisers Hyderabad, he won’t be leading the 2016 champions.

As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, Kane Williamson – who captained SRH to the final in Warner’s absence last year – will continue to lead the side despite some uncertainties over his fitness while pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be his deputy.

"I'm in doubt for the first match, but we actually have a fairly decent break between the first and the second match," Williamson told stuff.co.nz, "which should be more than sufficient time for my injury to heal and for me to be available for selection."

In March 2018, Warner and Steve Smith were handed one-year bans while Cameron Bancroft was banned for 9 months following the ball-tampering scandal in the Cape Town Test. Consequently, Warner and Smith were not allowed to play the IPL 2018 by BCCI.

Following the ban, Warner was seen in action at the Caribbean Premier League and the Bangladesh Premier League but the IPL will be a different ball-game. The southpaw shares a special relationship with SRH. In 2016, he tallied a staggering 848 runs and helped his team win the title. In 2017, Warner was on fire again, scoring 641 runs including a whirlwind 126.

Warner’s ban will culminate on March 29 and he will be keen to show his prowess to the cricketing fraternity once again.

"Warner didn't leave the Whatsapp group despite not playing last year. Even though he wasn't with the team, he was with the team. We lost, we won, irrespective he has been in touch and he discusses team ideas and dissect individual performances," Yusuf Pathan quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.