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Warner’s future at SRH in doubt, Bayliss says team looking to field youngsters

Written by Abhishek Patil

David Warner may play no further part this Indian Premier League (IPL) season for the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) as head coach Trevor Bayliss said that the team is looking to give younger players more time on the field. SRH, who recorded just their second win in 10 matches on Tuesday, are bottom of the table and already out of contention for a playoff spot.

Warner, who was dropped for the second time this season on Monday, as experienced a sharp drop in form, scoring just 195 runs in eight matches with a strike rate of 107.73. He has captained SRH to two IPL titles and has scored more than 500 runs every year in the IPL since 2014.

Bayliss said that Warner was not the only player who sat in the team hotel for Monday’s match with Kedar Jadhav and Shahbaz Nadeem also sitting out. “We can’t make the final so have made a decision that we want the young players to experience not just the matches but time at the ground, around the set-up, and for this match we made the decision,” Bayliss said after Monday’s match. “He was not the only experienced player we left back at the hotel”

“We have a number of young players that haven’t been to the ground. Even as reserves. We wanted to give them an opportunity to come along and experience that. That may continue for a few more games yet. We don’t know.

“We have got to sit down in a day or two and pick a team and pick a squad of 18. That’s just the way it is. Dave is obviously watching the game back in the hotel and giving the guys support. It is the same as everyone else. We are all in this together.”

Warner was also replying to fan’s comments on Instagram and in one of those comments, he reportedly indicated that he may never play for SRH again. “Unfortunately, won’t be again but keep supporting please,” Warner said in reply to a comment in which a fan asked if Warner was in the stadium.

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Abhishek Patil