"If he is coming to the ground and not playing, is there any point sitting outside?" - Wriddhiman Saha on David Warner's last days at SRH

Amid David Warner’s explosive exploits for Australia in the ongoing T20 World Cup, the clamor around why the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) didn’t give him a longer rope in IPL 2021 has gathered momentum.

The IPL-winning captain and talismanic leader brought the curtains down on his eight-year-long SRH career in a rather somber fashion. While there has been no official confirmation of the same, Warner's post on Instagram left little to the imagination and signaled that he is bound to part ways with the franchise.

After being relieved of captaincy duties in the first half of this year’s IPL, Warner was dropped after just two games in the UAE leg. But what hurt the Orange Army more was the apparent indifferent treatment dished out to their star opener, so much so that he watched their matches from the team hotel.

Wriddhiman Saha, Warner’s opening partner at SRH, clarified that the decision was a mutual one since there was no point for a superstar like him to travel with the team and just warm the bench.

“Regarding Warner not coming to the stadium, it was a mutual decision between him and the management. Because if he is coming to the ground and not playing, is there any point sitting outside?” Saha said in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda.

SRH were playing the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Dubai International Stadium on September 27. Wriddhiman Saha opened the innings with Jason Roy, while Warner uploaded a picture on his social media of him cheering for the team from his hotel room. The internet was abuzz with bemused SRH fans asking for Warner’s whereabouts.

During assignments, cricketers are severely restricted in terms of how and who they communicate with. And here, asked by random people if he wasn’t at the ground with the rest of the squad, the 35-year-old Warner put out a comment saying, “unfortunately won’t be again but keep supporting please”.

Asked to throw light on the issue at the post-match media conference that night, SRH head coach Trevor Bayliss said the move was to make some of the junior players experience being a part of the setup during an IPL match.

“We’ve got a number of guys who stayed behind in the hotel and haven’t even experienced being at the ground. So we want to give all those young guns as much of an experience as we possibly can. So for this game, it was David, Kedar and Nadeem, the three fit guys that weren’t here today,” Bayliss had said in response to a Sportskeeda query.

Saha also echoed similar sentiments, adding that franchises cannot bring more than 18 players to a match.

“Teams cannot carry more than 17 players, or maximum 18, to matches. Thus a rotation policy was in place to give every player the experience of being at the ground. And like I said, there was no point carrying Warner if he wouldn’t play,” the wicketkeeper-batsman explained.

But with four league matches remaining, why did Warner choose to put everything out on social media? Did he have any friction with the IPL family he had been part of for eight years?

“That is his personal choice, I don’t know how the management dealt with him on that front,” Saha said.

The Team India keeper was quick to reiterate the rigors of franchise cricket and the fierce competition for slots.

“Ultimately, be it franchise or international cricket, you will play only if you perform, otherwise, player rotation and different combinations have to be tried out,” Saha remarked.

David Warner has shown blazing form in Australia’s quest to win their maiden T20 World Cup. The southpaw has been their highest run-getter, amassing 236 runs at an average of 47.20 and a strike rate of 148.42. For the record, Warner's IPL numbers were meek in comparison. In eight matches, the NSW lad scored 195 runs at a modest strike rate of 107.73.

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SRH's three Afghans had bigger issues to deal with off the field

While Rashid Khan featured in all the matches, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman played 3 and 1 games respectively

Three Afghans participated in this year’s IPL, and they all plied their trade for the SunRisers. This meant the franchise was closely associated with yet another off-field problem, this one bigger and more sensitive than the Warner issue.

Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman were all invested in SRH’s revival campaign, but at the same time, they were worried about the ordeals taking place back home. The second phase of the IPL was played at a time when the Taliban had already taken over Afghanistan, the government had fallen, and the country was on the verge of facing acute food shortages.

To start off, SRH played their first match in the UAE on September 22 without Mujeeb. Wriddhiman Saha confirmed that the 20-year-old ‘mystery spinner’ couldn’t enter the country initially due to visa issues.

“He joined the team late because of visa issues, but he ultimately came. He didn’t play because there were just four overseas slots available – among those, Kane, Jason Roy, Holder were playing and Rashid Khan would inevitably play,” Saha told Sportskeeda.

One cannot expect to have peace of mind in such a diabolical situation. But the SRH opener revealed that some of the Afghan stars’ families stayed in Dubai, which was where they had set up their IPL tent too.

“We were all concerned about them, we used to ask how things are. But I think a part of their family stays in Dubai,” Saha added.

Be it distractions off the field or the inexperienced middle order not contributing consistently enough, SRH left a lot to be desired in IPL 2021. The Uppal-based franchise finished last in the league with 11 losses. They will undoubtedly pump money into their middle order, but with Warner gone and Saha on the wrong side of 30, SRH would look to invest in firepower at the top as well.