Reviewing SunRisers Hyderabad’s dismal show in the IPL 2021 before it was called off, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan pinpointed the reason behind the Orange Army’s failure to get going. In the seven games that the SunRisers played, they managed to bag only one win and were settled at the bottom of the points table before IPL’s indefinite suspension. Despite the likes of David Warner, Kane Williamson and a lethal pace attack, Hyderabad found themselves in troubled waters surprising Pathan who thought that they would progress onto the knockout stages.
Pinning the blame of Hyderabad’s poor performance on David Warner’s captaincy, Pathan said that the Australian was batting very ‘cautiously’ and that the management was not happy with his decisions.
“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,” said Pathan during a discussion on Star Sports.
“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,” Pathan added.
With the SunRisers Hyderabad reeling to manage a win in the IPL 2021, the franchise management had sacked David Warner as the captain, replacing the Australian with Kane Williamson. While the franchise did not reveal its reason clearly behind Warner’s sacking, it is assumed that the change in leadership was due to SunRisers’ dismal performance in the IPL 2021. The Orange Army had won only a single game out of the six that it had played under Warner. Following his sacking as the skipper, Warner was also dropped from the playing XI in Kane Williamson’s first game as the captain which the SRH failed to win as well.
After a display of courageous performances for Team India, Rishabh Pant was appointed as the captain of Delhi Capitals as mainstay Shreyas Iyer had been ruled out of the tournament with an injury. The young gun did not shy away from leadership duties and excelled in his new role as well. Halfway through the tournament, Pant had led the team to number three on the points table before the IPL 2021 was called off after the bio-bubble was breached. A BCCI official quoted by ANI has revealed that the Indian Cricket Board is keen to tap the September window to conclude the IPL 2021 before the T20 World cup. The BCCI official hinted that if the COVID-19 situation will be under control in September then the 14th edition of IPL can be completed.
