IPL 2018 | Sunrisers Hyderabad pick Alex Hales as David Warner replacement

David Warner suffered a major blow to his career after the Cricket Australia banned the opener for a year for all types of cricket above grade level and also announced that he could never lead the Aussie side in the future. After the CA came up with the sanction, the IPL governing council was left with no choice but not allowing the disgraced duo of Steve Smith and Warner participate in the 11th edition of the IPL, in which the duo were supposed to lead Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively. 

However, after the incident, both the franchises were on the lookout for able replacements and Luke Ronchi was touted as the perfect option for them, considering the form that he has found in the Pakistan Super League. However, surprisingly, the 2016 champions decided to opt for Hales, who has been one of the most important cogs in England’s limited-overs resurgence in recent times.  Hales is the first and only England player to score a T20I century and his big-hitting abilities will indeed help the Hyderabad-based franchise in the rather small boundaries of other teams’ stadiums. 

Hales, who has a strike rate of 134 and an average of 34 in the T20 internationals, is yet to make his IPL debut, although he was a part of the Mumbai Indians team in the previous editions. In the IPL mega-auction in Bengaluru in January, Hales went unsold despite having a base price of only one crore and upon this chance, he will try to make that count so as to make a statement for the future. The Englishman, who signed up to play for Nottinghamshire this season, will miss only a couple of matches if the Sunrisers Hyderabad don’t reach the playoffs. 

The franchise made the announcement via their official Twitter handle.