Sunil Gavaskar on SRH captain skipper David Warner: If captains can be changed mid-way, why can’t coaches?

Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar feels that the suspension of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 came as a blessing in disguise for Sunrisers Hyderabad, who were struggling in their campaign this season.

David Warner had to hand over the post to Kane Williamson after leading the first-6 games and was also dropped from the playing XI in their final league game before the tournament was postponed indefinitely on May 4 after Covid-19 breached the bio-bubble.

SRH were dead last on the 8-team table with just 2 points from 7 games

The team management took the call to leave out Warner despite the Aussie being among the runs as an opener. He scored 193 runs and was averaging over 32 but was still benched, a decision which Gavaskar thought to be “strange”.

He disagreed with the way the franchise dealt with Warner and held the support staff equally responsible for SRH’s defeats. SRH’s support staff comprises of Trevor Bayliss (head coach), Tom Moody (Director of Cricket), Muttiah Muralitharan (bowling coach), VVS Laxman (team mentor) and Brad Haddin (assistant coach).

“Hyderabad will get time to think about its decision to not just sack David Warner as the captain but even to drop him from the playing XI. Warner was getting runs but not in the same assertive manner of earlier years. Still, with little support from the others, those runs were precious. Yet, he was left out of the playing XI, which was strange. Without the cares of captaincy, he could have been the galvanizing batsman that the team needed.

“While the rights and wrongs of dropping him as captain could well be debated for long, the question that needs to be asked is if captains can be changed midway, why can’t coaches be treated the same? In football, the moment a team starts faltering, it’s the manager who is shown the exit door, so why not in cricket too?” Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for the Sportstar.

Gavaskar went on to add that the team management would have actually welcomed the BCCI’s decision to halt the league mid-way into the 14th season as this will give them the time to reflect on the mistakes they made throughout the season.

“Sunrisers Hyderabad had a forgettable beginning and would have been relieved that the event had to be suspended…the suspension could well be a blessing in disguise as it allows time for a calm, cool and proper introspection rather than in the hurly-burly of the tournament itself,” Gavaskar wrote.