Legendary Indian cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar reckons that the indefinite postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 came as a blessing in disguise for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Just before the suspension, David Warner had to hand over SRH’s captaincy to Kane Williamson after leading the first-6 games and was also dropped from the playing XI in their 7th league game before the tournament.
SRH was reeling at the bottom of the table with just one win in the 7 matches they played in IPL 2021. The team management then decided to sack Warner despite the Aussie being among the runs as an opener. He scored 193 runs and was averaging over 32 but was still warming the bench, a decision which Gavaskar thought to be “strange”.
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Describing the situation of SRH, in his column for Sportstar, Sunil Gavaskar wrote: “Hyderabad will get time to think about its decision to not just sack David Warner as the captain but even to drop him from the playing XI. Warner was getting runs but not in the same assertive manner of earlier years. Still, with little support from the others, those runs were precious. Yet, he was left out of the playing XI, which was strange.”
He further explained, “Without the cares of captaincy, he could have been the galvanizing batsman that the team needed. While the rights and wrongs of dropping him as captain could well be debated for long, the question that needs to be asked is if captains can be changed midway, why can’t coaches be treated the same? In football, the moment a team starts faltering, it’s the manager who is shown the exit door, so why not in cricket too?”
Gavaskar went on to add that the team management would be happy with BCCI’s decision to suspend the tournament mid-way into the 14th season as this will give them the time to reflect on the mistakes they made throughout the season.
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Talking about the same, Sunil Gavaskar wrote: “Sunrisers Hyderabad had a forgettable beginning and would have been relieved that the event had to be suspended…the suspension could well be a blessing in disguise as it allows time for a calm, cool and proper introspection rather than in the hurly-burly of the tournament itself.”
