Australian opener David Warner has lost his position as captain of SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) because of his poor form with the bat in the last IPL season. He was not retained by SRH among the other IPL retentions, leaving him to be a part of the mega auction ahead of next season.
The swashbuckling Warner, who helped Australia win the T20 World Cup title in 2021 after regaining form in the tournament, expressed how “hurt” he was at his unceremonious exit from SRH.
On the show “Backstage with Boria”, Warner said:Â “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?”
He further said: “What hurt me the most is that the other guys are now thinking, ‘oh, this could happen to me’. Whatever happens, happens. 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 feels that the move would have hurt SRH’s younger fans.
Warner elaborated: “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 (Tendulkar), Virat (Kohli), myself, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith – you name those players, they want to be us. Now we have to connect with them. If they see something like that, it hurts them. That’s what hurt me the most.”
