Australia batter David Warner has spoken on the ill-treatment from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) franchise in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. Warner was removed from the captaincy in the middle of the season, and he also couldn't find a place in the playing eleven later.
Warner was hurt by the exclusion from the side and he felt it could send a wrong message to other youngsters in the team as they might feel insecure about their spot.
The former SRH captain, who scored over 500 runs in all six seasons he featured before IPL 2021, played only 8 matches in the 14th edition of IPL. In the last few matches, Warner was seen sitting in the stands away from the team dug-out to cheer his teammates.
"If you are going to drop a captain and then not pick him in the team after what he has done, what message does that send to the young kids in the team? What message does that send to the rest of the group? What hurt me the most is that the other guys are now thinking, ‘oh, this could happen to me’," said Warner on the chat show Backstage with Boria.
"At the end of the day, whatever happens, cop it.. cop it on the chin. If you want to have those conversations, just have them. It’s not hard. Don’t shy away from them. I am not going to bite. I am going to sit here and accept that for what it is because you are not picking me in the team," he added.
Warner further said that his exit from the side had affected the SRH fans as well which wasn't good for their brand. He highlighted the importance of the 'icon players' in a franchise to build the brand.
“It was the pain that I knew was going to hit the fans. They are what makes a franchise. They grow your brand. The greatest teams in the world have icon players. I have been there for a long time. Kane Williamson has been there for a long time, so has Bhuvneshwar. You build a brand and you move forward with that brand," he said.
The IPL 2016 winners couldn't make it to the playoffs after winning only 3 out of their 14 matches in the tournament. Warner led the team in the first six matches before the franchise decided to hand over the captaincy to Kane Williamson for the rest of the season.
"They really felt it and it hurts me because I am passionate about where I play. I will connect in any way I can with the fans because I know how important fans are. Those kids in the playground wanting to be Sachin, Virat, myself, Williamson, Steve Smith - you name those players, they want to be us. We have to connect with them. If they see something like that, it hurts them," he added.
