Kane Williamson will take over as captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad for the remainder of the IPL 2021 season, the franchise confirmed on its social channels. Williamson will take over from David Warner after a poor start to the season has left the 2016 champions at the bottom of the standings with a solitary win from six games.

"The decision has not come lightly as the management respects the enormous impact David Warner has had for the franchise over a number of years," the club said in a statement. "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.

"The team management has also made the decision that they will be changing their overseas combination for tomorrow's (Sunday) match against Rajasthan Royals."

The decision comes in the backdrop of Sunrisers' latest defeat to Chennai Super Kings, post which Warner said he took "full responsibility". Incidentally, in the previous game he had stated that the decision to drop Manish Pandey from the XI as a "harsh" call from the "selectors."

Williamson has previously led Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He was named captain in 2018 after Warner had been barred from participating in that season of the tournament in the aftermath of the Sandpapergate controversy in Cape Town. Williamson top scored in the league with 735 runs in the team's run to the final of the season. In 2019, Sunrisers bowed out at the Eliminator stage after finishing fourth in the standings before Warner, their title-winning captain, was handed back the reins ahead of the 2020 season.

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).