David Warner
David Warner (Image Credit: Twitter)

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that David Warner’s captaincy and batting, too, hurt the Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2021 and that it was perhaps the right call to drop him.

After 5 losses in their first 6 games, the SRH management scraped Warner off the captaincy and instated Kane Williamson at the helm. They also dropped the left-hander to bring in Mohammad Nabi in their seventh game, which they lost emphatically to Rajasthan Royals.

Irfan Pathan points out that Warner struggled for his high standard form with the bat as well, apart from captaincy. While the opener scored 193 runs at an average of 32.17, but those runs came at a below-ordinary strike rate of 110.29.

David Warner
David Warner [Image-BCCI]

“They surprised us. They were a top-four team for me. SRH’s biggest problem was David Warner’s captaincy, the way he was managing the team, and the way he was batting. He was batting very cautiously,” Irfan Pathan said while speaking with Star Sports.

“When Kane Williamson was made the captain later, it means franchise was not happy with him, the way he was making the decisions,” he added.

They will have to improve their combination: Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan lamented the poor combination of players SRH fielded this season – the most prominent of which was the musical chairs deployed in the middle-order and lower than that. They were forced to play Jason Holder and Nabi – for Warner eventually – at some point to make up for the inexperienced and out-of-sorts Indian middle-order batters.

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Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan (Image Credit: Instagram)

The 36-year-old cricketer-turned-commentator lambasted the SRH management for not buying an express fast bowler at the auction, or not even as a replacement – they roped in Jason Roy as Mitchell Marsh’s replacement.

“We always talk about SRH that they don’t have any experienced players in the middle. Kedar Jadhav did not play at the start although he is an experienced player. They played Suchith for a couple of matches and then again dropped him.

“They will have to improve their combination and they do not have an out-and-out quick bowler, who can consistently bowl around 140 kph and keep performing on flat pitches,” Irfan Pathan concluded.

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