INDIA: In this edition of Dream 11 IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) was one of the eight teams from which every cricket lover had high expectations. In the last five editions of IPL, SRH have made its way to the playoffs every single time. Due to this reason, everyone thought that they will be a team to watch out for in this edition of IPL.
But, in this season, SRH was in the bottom of the table with 1 win in 7 games. So, what could’ve went wrong for SRH in this edition of IPL?
Poor decisions: An addition to SRH’s misery
The main problem with SRH was their poor team selection. The team only had four batsman who were capable of scoring at a good strike rate As per IPL’s rules, only four foreign players are allowed to be in the playing 11. Hence, it was important for SRH to select potential Indian players so that they could avoid relying too much on the foreigners.
Instead of choosing good Indian t20 batsmen during the auction, the team management decided to purchase some poor, “out of form” Indian batsmen like Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav, Virat Singh, etc. Vijay Shankar averages 11.60 with the bat in this year’s IPL. But he was consistently picked up in the playing 11 throughout the season.
SRH’s batting lineup consisted of all out of form batsmen who relied heavily on the top four batters. Due to this, whenever the top order failed to perform, the bottom batsmen would also crumble completely leading to SRH’s consecutive losses.
Theory behind David Warner’s Axing
Instead of taking the blame of selecting a poor squad, SRH management decided to sack their former captain and one of the best players in the IPL history David Warner. Warner was sacked from his captaincy and excluded from the playing 11. He was blamed for his poor strike rate and inconsistent performance.
In this IPL, Warner scored 193 runs in six matches at an average of 32.16. His strike rate was 110.28 which is not that good for a player like him. However, Warner’s strike rate was far better than his teammates.
Warner has always been the “leading man” and due to his efforts the team was able to win the title in 2016. He is the reason behind the team’s huge fanbase. Warner is the only player in IPL history to have scored fifty 50+ scores. He is also the only player in the IPL history to win the orange cap three times. Warner has scored 28.68% of total runs scored by SRH which is the highest by any batsman for any T-20 team.
SRH has faced heavy criticism from many cricketers for taking an “absurd” decision. Former cricketer Murali Karthik slammed SRH for their decision.
“So basically saying that the ones watching are in kindergarten and we don’t understand. Seriously since when did Warner not fit into the team combo. Who is replacing him Sir Sachin/Lara, Sir Garfield, Sir Viv #IPL2021,” added Kartik in his second tweet.
Also Read: RCB Beats SRH By 10 Runs In Their First IPL Match
Now the main question arises that how can the management treat a player of this caliber so badly? How can they sack a player because of whom the team has reached the playoffs every single time? If they are unable to respect the player of that caliber then they should just release him. The environment created by the management and staff isn’t good for Warner.
The SRH management needs to rethink about their decision now. Removing him from the playing 11 didn’t reap any benefit to the team as they still lost their match with Rajasthan Royals.
Instead of putting the blame on a single person, the management should now take decisions responsibly. In the next season they should remove under performing players like Kedar Jadhav, Khaleel Ahmed, Vijay Shankar etc and choose some good Indian players.
