Jason Roy eased into the vacant opener’s slot, hitting a match-winning 60 in his first game for SRH. With skipper Kane Williamson joining in, SRH chased it down against Rajasthan Royals in Dubai on Monday. It was the latest case of an IPL team turning the page regardless of a player’s influence in past achievements.

A player of Glenn McGrath’s calibre found it tough to even get a game at Delhi Daredevils in the early days. Gautam Gambhir led Kolkata Knight Riders to two titles but returned to Delhi as skipper, only stepping down even as player midway through 2018 IPL.

SRH are at the bottom of the points table and with four games left, Warner won’t play again this season. He confirmed that in a reply to a fan who urged the explosive Aussie batsman to make a strong comeback. Warner tweeted: “unfortunately won’t be again but keep supporting please.”

Warner’s omission though didn’t look surprising. He had lost captaincy to Williamson during the first phase in India, and then his spot in the playing 11. His struggle to focus and battle for form was evident in the last game he played—SRH losing to Punjab Kings by five runs chasing a modest 126 in Sharjah.

Off the third ball facing Mohammed Shami, he nicked an angled delivery that the old Warner would have slashed past point for a boundary. Fielding at cover, the usually sharp fielder had run backwards after an Aiden Markram mishit only to let the ball pop out of his hand.

Yet, the fade out is not one would associate with a true IPL child. Since his debut in 2009, Warner has missed only the 2018 season while was serving the Australia ban over the sandpaper scandal. He is the fifth highest IPL run-getter overall, and best among the foreign players. His strike-rate of 139.96 is the best among the top five. AB de Villiers, with a strike-rate of 152.24, is sixth with almost 400 runs fewer than Warner’s 5,449 runs, having played 29 games more than the Aussie’s 150.

Warner’s IPL record 50 fifties indicate his winning contributions. His four centuries are only behind IPL’s record six by Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli’s five. In 2016, he hit 841 runs at a strike rate of 151.42 to carry SRH to the title. Even in 2020 IPL, his 548 runs took SRH to the playoffs for the fifth edition in a row.

That 2020 performance though was followed by the groin injury Warner suffered in the second ODI against India at Sydney last November. Since then, it has been a struggle. In the India leg of 2021 IPL, he was replaced by Williamson and then dropped. In this edition, he has faced only 181 balls, scoring 195 runs—fewer than 23 balls per each of his eight games.

Warner’s poor form and current state of mind will only add to the concerns of Australia as the T20 World Cup follows IPL in the UAE.

SRH coach Trevor Bayliss seemed to suggest Warner’s great run with the team could be coming to an end. “That (Warner’s future) certainly hasn’t been discussed… Those decisions will be made further down the line. He has been a great contributor to Hyderabad Sunrisers for a number of years now. And he is very well respected by the men who run the squad, and he has a lot of runs I’m sure in him in the IPL,” Bayliss told the media on Monday.

Sunrisers made four changes with playoff hopes gone, to give younger players a chance. Only 18 players could be at the ground. “Dave is obviously watching the game from the hotel and giving the boys support. It is the same as everyone else. We are in this together,” the Aussie coach added.

Warner is only 34, but since the groin injury, he has only played Tests, being dismissed for 5, 13, 1 and 48 against India in Sydney and Brisbane. The diminishing returns from their talisman could not have happened at a worst phase—without him, Australia this year have lost T20 series in New Zealand (2-3), West Indies (1-4) and Bangladesh (1-4).