IPL 2021: It was 'very challenging' to play without David Warner, says SRH's Trevor Bayliss
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Trevor Bayliss has admitted it was 'very challenging' for the team to play without the recently sacked skipper David Warner.
In the hope of seeing a change in their points-table ranking, SRH arranged a major overhaul of their leadership mid-way through IPL 2021, with Kane Williamson taking over the saddle from David Warner.
However, the move failed to provide immediate relief as the Kane Williamson-led SRH side suffered a 55-run thumping against the Rajasthan Royals on Sunday, taking their Net Run Rate to -0.623.
Bayliss acknowledged that SRH missed David Warner's prowess as a player. However, he also defended Williamson's captaincy, instead attributing the defeat to Jos Buttler's fantastic performance.
"Yes, very challenging without David as a player and [also with] a new captain. Look, I don't think there would be too much of a problem there. Kane has been the captain of the team before and obviously, in the last 2 or 3 years he has the experience of captaining New Zealand. Look, we just didn't play very well tonight (sic), and obviously, one guy [Jos Buttler] played extremely well, so that's the way the T20 game goes sometimes," said Bayliss.
On the back of Buttler's unbelievable 64-ball 124, RR notched a stupendous target of 221 runs for SRH. The new opening pair of Manish Pandey (31) and Jonny Bairstow (30) made a steady start but failed to build on it against some clever bowling by the opposition. Kane Williamson, too, could only score 20 runs off 21 balls.
Trevor Bayliss lauds David Warner's selfless efforts as a 12th man
On David Warner's reaction after hearing the news of his ousting, Trevor Bayliss said the Aussie was expectedly 'disappointed'. The head coach, though, also lauded David Warner's selfless attitude as a 12th man, which included running the drinks for the team and being in the ear of Williamson and other SRH players.
"Like any player who gets dropped, he was disappointed. As you must have seen tonight, he ran as a 12th man doing as much as he could for the team, for the boys. He'd be cleaning up the bottles at the end, God knows. He's been good, he's been talking to Kane and some of the players, giving them advice. Yeah, but he's obviously disappointed," concluded Bayliss.
It will be interesting to see if SRH stick with the same combination after such a grueling loss or look back at David Warner once again. They will now play against the in-form Mumbai Indians on May 4.