Australia’s swashbuckling opener David Warner, on Tuesday (November 16), finally broke his silence on the unfair treatment given to him by his beloved franchise, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), in the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
In the first half of IPL 2021, Warner was sacked as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain after a couple of poor games in India and replaced by Kane Williamson, and even he was dropped from the playing XI after featuring in only two games in the second phase of IPL 14 in the UAE.
Notably, Warner led SRH to its maiden IPL title in 2016 and became a three-time Orange Cap winner with the side, and even recorded the second-most runs in a single edition (848 runs in 2016). Virat Kohli's tally of 973 runs is the most by a player in a single IPL season.
Despite all his hard work with the franchise, Warner was stripped of the captaincy and dropped from the playing XI without being given a reason in IPL 2021, and the cricketer said it hurt him the most.
However, Warner found his form back at the T20 World Cup 2021, where he was awarded the Player of the Tournament for scoring 289 runs in the UAE.
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Warner told The Economic Times: “When you are dropped from the team you have loved the most for years without any real fault of yours and stripped of captaincy without being given a reason, it hurts. At the same time, there are no complaints. The fans in India have always been there for me and it is for them that you play. We play to entertain. We play to push for excellence.”
He further added, “Whatever may have been the reason for me not finding a spot in an IPL team, I can tell you I was training the hardest I ever did. I didn’t miss a single day. I was batting extremely well in the nets and it was only a matter of time before it all started to work out. So yes, while it hurt, I knew I will have another opportunity.”
In another interaction, Warner told India Today: “The other disappointing thing for me was not being explained why I was dropped as captain. If you want to go along the lines of form, it is a difficult one because I guess whatever you have done in the past would have some weight moving forward, you would think.”
He signed off by saying, “Especially when you have played about 100 games for the franchise, I think I had four bad games in those first five matches in Chennai.”
