RR vs SRH, IPL 2021: Why is David Warner not playing today?  

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have left out David Warner from their playing XI against the Rajasthan Royals on Sunday. The development comes a day after Warner was sacked as captain of the side mid-way through the IPL 2021 season.

Tom Moody, the franchise's director of cricket, explained the rationale behind the call ahead of Sunday's clash. He said the presence of an overseas all-rounder in place of David Warner provides the team with a better balance.

He added that Kane Williamson and Jonny Bairstow's recent form also puts them above David Warner in the team's pecking order.

"Firstly he's (David Warner) not going to be playing in this game and that's purely a decision based on the combination. We've come to the conclusion that at this stage two overseas bat, an all-rounder and Rashid Khan is our best combination. We looked at it very closely. Obviously Bairstow's form and Williamson's form is at a great height and we are very thrilled with the way they are playing and we had to make a hard call and someone had to miss out and unfortunately for Davey on this occasion, it's him," said Moody.

One of the greats of the IPL, David Warner is SRH's top run-scorer in the competition. The Aussie led the team to the IPL title in 2016, while also taking them to the playoffs multiple times.

However, the southpaw's form this season has been average by his standards. In six games, Warner has scored just 193 runs at a paltry strike rate of 110.29.

In recent years @davidwarner31 has been the defining player for @SunRisers. This is a big call. Luckily for them,the new captain,Kane Williamson, is hugely respected within the team and among the fans. But it will take time for the fans to come to terms with the absence of Warner

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 2, 2021

Meanwhile, Jonny Bairstow is leading the team's run-scoring chart so far with 218 runs from six games, striking consistently at over 140. New skipper Kane Williamson, too, has scored 108 runs across three games at a strike rate of 135.

Who has replaced David Warner in SRH's team?

Mohammed Nabi is a right-handed batsman and a shrewd off-spinner

SRH has multiple options to replace David Warner. These include West Indian all-rounder Jason Holder, English batsman Jason Roy and the Afghan duo of Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

The franchise went with Nabi for the game against RR. The all-rounder has previously featured in 15 IPL games, gleaning 160 runs and 13 wickets.

Today's Playing XI: Bairstow (wk), Kane (c), Pandey, Shankar, Nabi, Jadhav, Samad, Rashid, Sandeep, Bhuvi, Khaleel.#RRvSRH #OrangeOrNothing #OrangeArmy #IPL2021

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) May 2, 2021