Australian superstar David Warner had a horrible time in the last edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Warner, who once led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to their only title victory in 2016, was sacked from captaincy in the middle of IPL 2021.
Not only Warner was removed from the captaincy, but he also didn’t get enough chances to play as a player in the ‘Orange Army’.
Ahead of the players’ retention submission for the next season, Warner was also released from the Sunrisers squad.
The southpaw, who scored over 500 runs in all six seasons he featured before IPL 2021, recently opened about the mistreatment from the Hyderabad-based franchise. The ‘pocked dynamite’ said he was ‘hurt’ by the actions of SRH management as dropping a captain sends a wrong message to the entire squad, especially the youngsters.
“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’,” Warner told Boria Majumdar on his chat show ‘Backstage with Boria’.
The New South Wales cricketer further talked about the impact of his abrupt exit on Sunrisers’ fans, stating that it wasn’t good for SRH’s overall brand. He highlighted the importance of the ‘icon players’ in a franchise which helps in building the brand. Warner mentioned that his fans were largely affected by the SRH decision, and it hurts him the most as he doesn’t want to lose the connection with them.
“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.”
“They really felt it, and it hurts me because I am passionate about where I play. I will connect with the fans in any way I can 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,” added Warner.
