Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has reappointed David Warner as captain ahead of this year's edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Warner, who led the franchise to its maiden title in the 2016 season, could not lead in the last two seasons for his involvement in the contentious 2018 Cape Town Test ball-tampering incident.
Warner didn't take part in SRH's 2018 campaign and wasn't reinstated as captain for the 2019 season where he once again batted exceedingly well for the orange army under Kane Williamson's leadership.
Read Also: MS Dhoni to begin training for IPL 13 from March 2 in Chennai, as per reports
However, ahead of the league's 13th edition, SRH found it in the best interest of its balance as a team to reappoint Warner in the leadership post.
The 33-year-old Aussie left-hand batsman himself confirmed the development in a video message tweeted by SRH for all fans.
"I'm thrilled to be given the captaincy for this coming IPL 2020," Warner can be heard saying in the video. "I'm extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to lead the team once again."
"I'd like to thank Kane and Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar, vice-captain last year) for the way you guys led throughout the last couple of years, you guys did an outstanding job. And I'll be leaning on you guys for support and your insight to the game as well."
"And to the management thank you once again for giving me this opportunity. And I'll try my very, very best to lifting that IPL Trophy this year."
Warner has been the mainstay of the SRH batting unit since joining the franchise ahead of the 2014 IPL season; he has enjoyed a prolific run with the bat wearing orange and black especially since being first appointed the captain a year later, scoring 562, 848, 642 and 692 runs in the four seasons he has played after that to bag the orange cap in three of those in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
He is now also the fourth-highest run-getter in the history of IPL cricket behind Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma.
Sunrisers Hyderabad begins its IPL 2020 campaign with a home fixture against defending champions Mumbai Indians on April 1.
(Inputs from Cricbuzz)
