The experienced left-hander threw the SRH team management under the scanner, stating it is “disappointing” to be kept in the dark about important decisions after such a longstanding association with the franchise.
“Look, I’m not 100% sure. With utmost respect for the owners, Trevor Bayliss, [VVS] Laxman, Tom Moody and Murali [Muthiah Muralidaran], when a decision gets made, it has to be unanimous.
But you don’t know who is going for you, who wants you the selected, who doesn’t. End of the day you’re told you’re not playing.”
Warner told Sports Today.
The Australian was removed as kipper by SRH near the end of the Indian leg of the IPL 2021, which the team finished with six losses from seven matches. He was also dropped from the playing XI then and again after just a couple of games in the UAE.
But while the left-hander struggled and batted at a strike-rate of just 107.73 for his 195 runs from eight innings, he said he had hoped that his incredible past performances would’ve earned him some respite and more time before such a tough call is taken.
“The disappointing thing for me was not being explained why I was dropped as captain.
I think if you want to go along the lines of form, it’s a difficult one because I guess whatever you’ve done in the past would have some weightage moving forward, especially when you’ve played 100 [95] games for the franchise.”
he added.
SRH dropped Warner from six of their 14 matches in total, including one where they even left him at the team hotel, which led to speculations of a fallout with the franchise.
However, head coach Trevor Bayliss confirmed at the time that Warner was not the only one left behind among the experienced players as they looked to give younger players the exposure having already lost the playoffs race.
Despite an evident dip in his stroke-making abilities in the last couple of years, Warner is easily one of the greatest IPL performers with the bat. The Australian made 4,014 of his overall IPL career runs in SRH jersey at an average of 49.55 and strike-rate of 142.59.
Warner indicated during the interview that he felt he was unjustly dropped from the playing XI during the Indian after “four bad games”, adding it was a “bitter pill to swallow” and something that he will never be given “answers” for and so must “move on” from.
The veteran said the obvious signs that SRH are unlikely to retain him next year are not lost on him at all and while he would “love to represent the Sunrisers still” given he has a great legacy with the franchise, he deep down knows the writing is on the wall, which is partly why he made an Instagram post thanking his fans after SRH’s final game of IPL 2021
“Sometimes you get the feeling that you’re not going to be retained by a franchise, with little signs that you could see in and around the group,” he said.
“From my perspective, I could see the writing was on the wall, and it was an appropriate time to say thank you [to the fans on social media].”
Warner is expected to be one of the hottest picks available at next year’s mega auction, where there will be two extra teams bidding to finalise their respective squads for the 10-team IPL 2022. The 35-year-old is looking forward to playing for another franchise and said he wouldn’t mind being given the captaincy duties as well.
