David Warner steps down as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad

David Warner has stepped down as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the wake of the ball-tampering row which broke out during the third Test against South Africa in Newlands, Cape Town on Saturday.

Shanmugam, CEO Sunrisers Hyderabad, took to Twitter to announce Warner’s decision to leave captaincy of Hyderabad.

“In light of recent events, David Warner has stepped down as captain of SunRisers Hyderabad. The new captain of the Team will be announced shortly.” – K.Shanmugam, CEO, SunRisers Hyderabad

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) March 28, 2018

Hyderabad has enough players to fill Warner’s shoes: Saha

Earlier, Wicket-keeper batsman, Wriddhiman Saha said in an interview that Hyderabad squad is strong enough to cope up if David Warner does not play in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League.

David Warner was involved in the ball-tampering controversy along with his team mates Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft.

Team mentor VVS Laxman had said that the franchise would wait for the verdict of Cricket Australia on Warner, who stepped down as vice-captain of the Australian cricket team.

“The decision has not been confirmed yet. But, our team is strong enough to replace David Warner,” Saha said.

“We have players like Kane Williamson,  Deepak Hooda and Manish Pandey. They are capable of building a strong middle order, ” he added.

He also emphasized the role of Warner and said, “Of course, Warner is an important player who can provide us the stronger edge in the tournament, but we have enough replacements. We can try to fill the void.”

IPL to follow the verdict of CA:

Rajeev Shukla said the participation of Steve Smith and  David Warner would only be decided after Cricket Australia’s report.

Shukla added that they had already written to the CA and they were expecting a written reply.

“The moment it comes, we will make a decision. If they punish them, we will also think over it,” he added.

Sunrisers Hyderabad had won the IPL title in 2016 under David Warner’s captaincy.

Who may replace Warner as captain?

The franchise might choose Indian batsman, Shikhar Dhawan to lead the side in the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League.