Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) announced that they have named Kane Williamson as their captain for the remainder of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 replacing David Warner. The franchise also announced that in their next game against Rajasthan Royals to be played on May 2, there will be a change in the overseas combination of players.

“The team management has also made the decision that they will be changing their overseas combination for tomorrow’s match against Rajasthan Royals,” SRH said in a statement.

“This decision has not come lightly as the management respects the enormous impact David Warner has had for the franchise over a number of years. AS we face the remainder of the season we are sure David will continue to help us strive for success both on and off the field,” SRH added.

SRH are currently at the bottom of the points table with just one win from six games. In the first few games, Williamson was not fit to play but he has returned to the side and has been performing with 108 runs from three games including an unbeaten 66 to help SRH get the match into super over.

On the other hand, Warner has struggled with his strike rate. The Aussie opener has scored 193 runs from six games including two half-centuries but has scored at a strike rate of 110.29. In the previous game as well, he scored a half-century just over run-a-ball which led to a below par score against Delhi Capitals (DC). SRH can pick in-form English opener Jason Roy or West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder in place of the franchise’s IPL 2016-title winning skipper.

This will not be the first time the Kiwi skipper will be taking over the reins of SRH. In the absence of Warner due to the ban for ball-tampering, Williamson led SRH to the final of IPL 2018 where they lost to Chennai Super Kings (CSK).