IPL 2021: ‘Why can’t coaches be treated the same?’ – Sunil Gavaskar questions SRH’s ‘strange’ sacking of David Warner

The 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was cut short by a spike in the number of COVID cases inside the bio-bubble. Despite the fact that only 29 games were played before the season got suspended indefinitely, the season had its share of twists and turns along with controversies. The biggest of them being the dropping of David Warner from the Sunrisers Hyderabad side.

Warner, before being dropped for SRH’s seventh match of the season, had scored 193 runs at a healthy average of 32 but with a relatively modest strike rate of 110. He had scored two half-centuries in his six innings. SRH were at the bottom of the table with just one win in seven games before the league was suspended indefinitely.

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar was surprised by the ‘strange’ decision taken by the SRH think tank. David Warner has been the franchise’s leading run-scorer lately season after season and Gavaskar feels that he should have been treated better. The former Indian international feels that Warner could have proved to be “the galvanizing batsman” in SRH’s faltering batting order.

“Hyderabad will get time to think about their 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,” Gavaskar wrote in Sportstar.

“In football, it’s the manager who is shown the exit door, so why not in cricket too?” Sunil Gavaskar

The Sunrisers got off on the wrong foot in IPL 2021 and were never able to recover from it. SRH registered a hattrick of loses before getting their first points on board. But the win was preceded by another couple of loses which saw the side sack Warner as their skipper. The management even dropped him from the side, belittling him to a mere waterboy waiting at the boundary ropes.

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While Gavaskar questions why coaches in cricket are not held accountable for the performance of the team. The Indian great asserts that while coaches are first to be sacked in football when a “team falters”, it is the captain who has to face all the heat in the gentleman’s game.

“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?” Gavaskar said.

Nonetheless, with the IPL 2021 indefinitely suspended now, the Sunrisers have ample time at their hands to figure out what went wrong for them. While the chances of a play off spot is virtually over for them, they can bounce back well and salvage some pride this season. All eyes will be on the SRH think tank when the league returns later this year.

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