IPL 2018: Sunrisers Hyderabad strong enough to replace Warner, says Saha

Wriddhiman SahaWicketkeeperbatsman Wriddhiman Saha today said Sunrisers Hyderabad have enough bench strength to replace Australian batsman David Warner who is facing a lengthy ban from Cricket Australia for his role in the ball tampering scandal Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman has made it clear that they would wait for Cricket Australias decision on Warner who was forced to step down as Australias vicecaptain for the last two days of the third Test against South Africa in Cape TownAccording to reports Warner might be banned for 12 months by Cricket Australia which is currently investigating the balltampering issue that has plunged the game into crisis There has been no ultimate decision as yet Our team is strong enough to replace Warner Saha told reporters at the Calcutta Sports Journalists Club The team was decided based on the captain Maybe initially we will get affected but with the reserve that we have it wont impact much Saha said Sunrisers have a solid middleorder to meet the challenge in case Warner is left out in the wake of the ball tampering rowWe have a good middle order with the likes of Kane Williamson Deepak Hooda and Manish Pandey If we get a good start from the openers Warner and Dhawan the pressure on the middle order will be less he said We will definitely have a very strong side if Warner remains in the team But we have enough replacements to make a good side if not 100 per cent but closer to that We can try and fill in the void said Saha who leaves for Hyderabad on March 30 Smith who orchestrated the ball tampering was suspended for one Test and docked his entire match fee by ICC while his teammate Cameron Bancroft who was caught on camera using a foreign object to tamper with the ball on Saturday was fined of 75 per cent of his match fee and handed three demerit points Smith has already stepped down as captain of his IPL side Rajasthan Royals Asked whether Shikhar Dhawan would be the right choice to replace Warner as captain Saha said It will be a team management decision whoever be the captain the goal will be to win for SRH We will have to go by the team managements decision Ultimately the aim will be to winOn the ball tampering controversy he said I dont think only two people were involved in this Im sure the whole team should be held responsible Its about playing clean cricket and not trying to tamper with the ball and then get a batsman out Saha said senior players like Smith and Warner are brand ambassadors of the game and the quantum of punishment should be same for everyone Its not good if they bring bad name to the sport I dont know the rule but it quantum of punishment should be same for everybody The rule should be same for everyone Meanwhile Saha also lavished praise on the U19 pace duo of Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti I have not seen any U19 player bowl at 140kph consistently They are an asset for the Indian team They need to hold on to this and in future it will only benefit the Indian cricket he concludedCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever