David Warner’s decision to skip two Australian tours and use the Indian Premier League for his T20 World Cup preparation could come back to bite him big time.
David Warner’s T20 World Cup preparation could be limited to six balls and just two runs after the Australian opener was dropped by his Indian Premier League team.
Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Trevor Bayliss, the former England coach, said a push to give more young players game time, with his side unable to make the IPL finals, was behind the move.
But it means Warner, who has played just two IPL games since April as his only cricket before next month’s T20 World Cup, could be restricted to just net practice and any Australian warm-up games to hone his skills.
Warner watched the game from the team hotel with squad sizes at the venues limited.
Speculation is now rife that Warner has played his final game for the franchise ahead of the competition‘s mega auction next year.
“Look, that certainly has not been discussed,” Bayliss said.
“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 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.”
“We’ve got a lot of young players here, and for this match we decided obviously we’re going to make a few changes in the team.
“But to give some of the young players who haven’t been a part of the 18 and we had to bring them to the game, give them the opportunity to come along and experience a game.”
Warner, 34, made a duck to open the restarted IPL, and then just two in his second innings, facing a total of six balls across the two games. They were his first matches since the IPL was abandoned in April, after he chose to skip Australia’s white-ball tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh.
Given the quarantine restrictions ruling the IPL, Warner could be restricted to his hotel outside of training.
To make matters worse for Warner, his replacement, Englishman Jason Roy, scored a player-of-the-match 60 from 42 balls, powering the bottom-placed Sunrisers to just their second victory of the season.
Warner had made over 4000 runs for Sunrisers but was sacked as captain in April and dropped out of the team before being recalled when the tournament restarted.
Australia could play two warm-up matches before the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. Australia’s first match is against South Africa.
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