David Warner missing out from the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) dug out in the last two games of the ongoing second leg of IPL 2021 has been a mystery. Earlier in the season, he was stripped off captaincy and subsequently dropped from the playing XI too. But with Jonny Bairstow pulling out, it was yet another chance for Warner to stake his claim at the top of the order.

However, he couldn’t score many runs in the first two matches of the second leg. This led to the SRH management dropping him for Jason Roy. Many weren’t surprised about the left-hander getting dropped but what stuck everyone’s mind was his absence from the dug out.

Add to it, David Warner, responding to a comment on stay, he won’t be a part of SRH XI anymore which hinted that all is not well between him and the management at the moment. Many had doubts about the same when he was axed from captaincy earlier in the season.

The debate intensified further on Thursday (September 30), when the Australian opener posted a cryptic message on his Instagram story. “It’s not about who is real to you face, it’s about who stays real behind your back,” the message in the story read.

Former India and Delhi Capitals opener Virender Sehwag reckons that Sunrisers Hyderabad need not retain any bowler from their current contingent ahead of the IPL mega auction, scheduled in 2022.

However, Sehwag does feel that if the teams are allowed to retain foreign players, then the SRH management must ensure to not release Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, whose stocks in every format of the game have been on a constant upward trend ever since the start of his professional career.

“From these bowlers [current SRH players] I would not retain even a single one, not even Bhuvneshwar Kumar. I agree that he will be playing for India, he is a brilliant T20 bowler, but if SRH has to retain only one bowler, the amount of money (INR 15-16 crores) they will have to spend would be way too mu.