'It's quite a big thing being demoted from captaincy': Pietersen, Gavaskar on whether Warner, Williamson have 'issues' | Cricket - Hindustan Times
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'It's quite a big thing being demoted from captaincy': Pietersen, Gavaskar on whether Warner, Williamson have 'issues'

By, New Delhi
Sep 22, 2021 07:45 PM IST

Kevin Pietersen and Sunil Gavaskar spoke about whether the change in guard can affect or has affected the relationship between David Warner and Kane Williamson.

David Warner was axed as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad during the first-half of IPL 2021 following a dismal show by the team back in April-May. With SRH losing five games out their first six, Warner was replaced by Kane Williamson as captain of the side. However, if removing Warner – who had been a three-time Orange Cap winner and led the team to an IPL title win in 2016 – as captain was not enough, SRH even dropped him from their Playing XI for the next match.

David Warner and Kane Williamson during practice. (SRH/Twitter)
David Warner and Kane Williamson during practice. (SRH/Twitter)

With the IPL returning and Warner eyeing a fresh start, it will be interesting to see the equation between him and captain Williamson. In such scenarios, things have the potential to turn frosty, and weighing in on the same, former captains Kevin Pietersen and Sunil Gavaskar spoke about whether the change in guard can affect or has affected the relationship between Warner and Williamson.

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"They are very different, and opposites normally attract right? I don’t know if there are any issues within the team environment. I don’t know how he was dropped or what was said to him. It’s quite a big thing being demoted from captaincy, player out of the team. That’s a fairly dismissive role there," Pietersen said on Star Sports ahead of the start of the SRH-DC IPL 2021 match in Dubai on Wednesday.

"I don’t know what happened in that process but the one thing I know about David Warner… we all know about him, we’ve watched him for years… it’s that he has got that bulldog spirit. And when he has his back against the wall, let me tell you, he is going to run his singles faster than he ever has; he’s going to push twos quicker, when he gets the opportunity to hit something short and wide, he is going to give it a right good glue."

Gavaskar feels that instead of causing problems within the team, Warner is the kind of player who would be least bothered by things that aren't in his control and that the opening batsman would be looking to prove his detractors wrong by wanting to score plenty of runs.

“If you are a former captain. If you have been deposed as captain, you are going to go out and try your hardest because if you have been left out as captain, then you could easily be left out as player if you don’t perform,” said the former India batsman.

“This particular thought process is an arcade thought process; ‘he has been left out as captain so he is going to damage the team. He is not going to damage the team; he is actually going to go out and prove that the decision that was made wrong. And how do you do that? By scoring tons of runs, or picking up heaps of wickets. So I don’t think there is going to be any issue at all.” 

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