IPL 2019: SRH retain David Warner, release Wriddhiman Saha

MUMBAI: Even as they didn't announce him as the captain for IPL 2019, Sunrisers Hyderabad retained David Warner on Thursday, the last day of announcing retentions/players released ahead of the IPL auction on December 18 in Jaipur.
The swashbuckling Aussie opener missed out on the previous edition of the IPL due to his ban following the ball-tampering scandal. In his absence, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson led the team to the final, where they lost to the Chennai Super Kings.
The Hyderabad-based franchise, however, released India's Test 'keeper Wriddhiman Saha, England's (opener) Alex Hales, (pacer) Chris Jordan, and West Indies T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite.
"Hales was a replacement for Warner. Once we retained Warner, Hales was always going to go," revealed a franchise official.
Saha had a lean run for SRH in a season where they topped the points table and were one of the first teams to seal their spot in the play-offs. To make things worse for him, the Bengal wicket-keeper's injuries during the last IPL were at the centre of a big controversy. He first suffered a finger injury in the second Qualifier against Kolkata Knight Riders, and was subsequently replaced by Shreevats Goswami, who has been retained. The 34-year-old's woes increased when he suffered a bad shoulder injury that has kept him out of action since the IPL.
SRH also released four Indian players - Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal, Bipul Sharma and Mehdi Hassan - all of them hadn't played a single game for them in the 2018 IPL. It wasn't a surprise that in addition to Warner, SRH retained six overseas players: Billy Stanlake, Williamson and the all-round trio of Shakib Al Hasan, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi.
SRH had recently traded Shikhar Dhawan to Delhi Daredevils in exchange of Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem. The franchise had revealed that the India limited overs opener, who was with the team since 2013, felt "unsettled" in team as he wasn't happy with the money that he was getting there.
Sunrisers squad:
Retained players: Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, T Natarajan, Ricky Bhui, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Shreevats Goswami (wk), Khaleel Ahmed, Yusuf Pathan, Billy Stanlake, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Shakib Al Hasan.
Released: Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha, Chris Jordan, Carlos Brathwaite, Alex Hales, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan.