Fan requests David Warner to score century on IPL 2021 resumption, he responds

Australian star and former Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner has an interesting response for an Instagram user, who is waiting for a century from the southpaw’s bat in the imminent second leg of the Indian Premier League, set to be played in the UAE.

A user recently commented on one of Warner’s post, “David waiting for your century in the 2nd phase”, to which he replied: “Yep me too if I’m selected in the team.” Once a default pick and skipper of the team, Warner endured a tough time in the first half of the season as he was sacked as the SRH captain midway, while the team lost five of their six games under him.

David Warner’s torrid IPL 2021

For someone renowned for his consistency in the league, Warner had an unusual outing during the 2021 IPL as he struggled both as a captain and batter. He tallied 193 runs at 32.16 at an uncharacteristically low strike rate of 110.28, while SRH continued to occupy spots in the lower half of the table throughout the tournament, with only a single victory to show at the halfway mark.

Although having been the franchise’s mainstay for years in an extremely competitive league like the IPL, Warner had stellar credentials against his name; some that certainly make him an un-droppable member and an un-sackable captain. But all it took him to be robbed of his position in the side – both as leader and batsman – was one below par season. Perhaps, another mistake was to be critical of the selectors, whom Warner candidly termed “harsh” for dropping Manish Pandey.

Either way, the management’s call to hand over the mantle of captaincy to Kane Williamson did not bode too well as the Sunrisers slid to their sixth defeat, taking a 55-run beating from Rajasthan Royals after a seemingly listless bowling unit was pulped by Jos Buttler’s lightning-fast century in what eventually turned out to be the penultimate clash before the season suspension.

The 14^th edition, which was suspended due to a spate of Covid-19 cases emerging inside the bio-secure bubbles of four different franchise across two cities, will now be played at three venues in the United Arab Emirates from September 19 onwards. SRH will resume their campaign against the Delhi Capitals on September 22 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.