David Warner was removed from the captaincy of Sunrisers Hyderabad after the team lost five out of the first six matches in the first leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) in April-May.
Warner, who has won three Orange Caps and an IPL trophy as SRH captain was then dropped from the playing XI after Kane Williamson took over the leadership role.
Former cricketers Kevin Pietersen and Sunil Gavaskar talked about the possibility of a rift that could affect or has affected Warner and Williamson’s relationship.
"They are very different, and opposites normally attract right? I don’t know if there are any issues within the team environment. I don’t know how he was dropped or what was said to him. It’s quite a big thing being demoted from captaincy, player out of the team. That’s a fairly dismissive role there," Pietersen said on Star Sports on Wednesday.
Pietersen went on to speak about Warner as a person and his character when he has his back against the wall.
"I don’t know what happened in that process but the one thing I know about David Warner… we all know about him, we’ve watched him for years… it’s that he has got that bulldog spirit.
And when he has his back against the wall, let me tell you, he is going to run his singles faster than he ever has; he’s going to push twos quicker, when he gets the opportunity to hit something short and wide, he is going to give it a right good glue," he added.
Gavaskar felt that Warner would not be affected with him removed from captaincy but would want to score runs to prove people wrong.
“If you are a former captain. If you have been deposed as captain, you are going to go out and try your hardest because if you have been left out as captain, then you could easily be left out as a player if you don’t perform,” Gavaskar said.
“This particular thought process is an arcade thought process; he has been left out as captain so he is going to damage the team. He is not going to damage the team; he is actually going to go out and prove that the decision that was made wrong. And how do you do that? By scoring tons of runs, or picking up heaps of wickets. So I don’t think there is going to be an issue at all,” added Gavaskar.
