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Sunrisers Hyderabad chief coach Trevor Bayliss has indicated that Australian cricketer David Warner, who had had an indifferent Indian Premier League (IPL) season with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) all through this edition, might not play any more matches here in the UAE.
England cricketer Jason Roy -- who was finally included in the playing XI on Monday -- and SRH captain Kane Williamson played some brilliant cricketing shots to guide the Hyderabad franchise home against Rajasthan Royals in the 40th match of the IPL 2021. Hyderabad registered their second win of this season after beating Royals by seven wickets at the Dubai International Stadium.
Chasing 165, SRH got off to a blistering start as a flurry of boundaries unleashed by openers Roy (60) and Wriddhiman Saha (18) took SRH past 50 in just 4.5 overs. Williamson then came up with an unbeaten half-century to guide the team to victory.
Warner was not included in the match after another dismal performance in the previous game where he scored only two runs against Punjab Kings as his side lost a low-scoring match by five runs.
"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 about Warner's exclusion. "He was not the only experienced player we left back at the hotel (Kedar Jadhav and Shahbaz Nadeem were the others)," added the coach.
Warner has been a SRH veteran, having led the side to the title triumph in 2016 and scoring a mind-boggling 4,014 runs for the franchise. However, the Australian has been off-colour this season, both in India (first leg) and UAE (second leg).
"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," added Bayliss.
"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 (Warner) 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."
This is the second time Warner has been dropped from the side this season, which has given rise to speculation that he might not return for the franchise in future.
"Look that certainly has not been discussed. It is something that… this is the last year before a major auction. Those decisions will be made further down the line. He has been a great contributor to Hyderabad Sunrisers for a number for a number of years now. He is very well respected with the amount of runs he has scored. I am sure he has got a lot more runs in him yet in the IPL," added Bayliss.
(With IANS Inputs)
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