Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Brad Haddin has praised David Warner’s sporting attitude in dealing with the matter of being axed from captaincy all of a sudden. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson replaced Warner as captain midway through the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year.
However, SRH ended up playing only one match under Williamson’s leadership as the season got postponed due to the coronavirus penetrating the franchise bio-bubbles. Warner was shown the bench in that particular game. SRH concluded IPL 2021 at the bottom of the points table, with a solitary win in seven games.
"He took it with class. It was a bit of a shock to everyone when the management decided to go in a different direction to try and spark something in the team. We weren't playing at the standard we needed to but with Davey, the way he handled it, it was all class. He just got back on with the job," Haddin said on Fox Cricket.
Haddin, the former Australia wicketkeeper, who has also played alongside Warner, said that the latter handled the situation very gracefully and had no qualms in running drinks for his fellow players. Haddin also felt that Warner would have been in the reckoning for the upcoming games had the tournament went on as scheduled.
"I dare say he would come back in the contention in the next few games. He's one of the best in the world in that form of the game. You had to look at the way he reacted when he came on to the bench. He was around everyone; he was running the drinks out. He was really focused on the meetings so he handled it with a lot of class in a difficult situation," Haddin added.
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