David Warner - The Man Who Crafted Sunrisers Hyderabad's Golden Era

image-lftuy3hqDavid Warner raising his bat after playing a big knock for Sunrisers Hyderabad (Source:Twitter)

The Indian Premier League has revolutionised world cricket in many ways and one of the most unique features that emerged with the rise of the IPL was the passionate love many foreign players got from the Indian crowd. One such player is - David Warner. He has been the most successful overseas batter in the IPL and has become synonymous with Sunrisers Hyderabad over the years.

The Aussie was instrumental in Sunrisers' splendid run as the Hyderabad franchise managed to qualify for the playoffs in straight five seasons starting from 2016. Apart from the 2018 season, when he was absent from the IPL, Warner was the man who blasted runs at will to take a relatively weaker side on paper to playoffs each time during this period.

Warner was an inspiration for the Sunrisers' side not only with the bat but became an inspirational leader too. He was the leader of the pack when Sunrisers won their maiden IPL trophy and led from the front with 848 runs. He was not the Orange cap holder in that season though but overall, Warner has been the leading run-scorer in the IPL three times and all those runs came for Sunrisers Hyderabad.  He has the average of 48.14 while leading Sunrisers Hyderabad which shows the consistency and the impact he had on the performance of the franchise.

Thus, David Warner became the poster boy of Hyderabad franchise and it was his popularity that attracted a lot of fans towards Sunrisers in what was a golden era of the franchise. For many fans, it almost became impossible to imagine Sunrisers Hyderabad without David Warner.

 So, when David Warner was taken off as captain and dropped from the side midway during the 2021 season, the Hyderbad franchise faced a lot of backlash and it almost felt that the franchise has suddenly lost its heart and soul.

The history, however, will always remember David Warner as Sunrisers Hyderabad's biggest star, the leader who took the franchise to the heights, that very few teams in the history of IPL have been able to reach.