Shane Warne’s exploits in international cricket have been remembered with great warmth and admiration for his stupendous achievements, while also deeply regretting his sudden death at a young age last week.
An important – if brief – chapter in a glittering career was his stint in the Indian Premier League.
Asked to lead a team – for some reason he was refused a play for Australia – his competitive and creative juices started flowing. Rajasthan Royals looked like a very weak team full of inexperienced youngsters, which further increased their appetite.
He was brilliant with the ball, even more so with strategy and man-management and the Royals took an incredible victory. The legend of Shane Warne got a sudden and sharp spike.
The piece that followed was commissioned by the Wisden Almanack as a tribute to Warne’s retirement from all cricket, which he announced before the start of the fourth season of the IPL. But when he did not play for the Indians again, Warne played in the Big Bash, which meant that the article remained unpublished.
I reproduce it here with deep thanks to the editor. While it is about Warne’s farewell season in the IPL, it is also about his scintillating skills, famous rivalry with Sachin Tendulkar and personal charisma – despite warts and all – that made him arguably the most compelling cricketer of his time. Gave.
Shane Warne entered the fourth season of the IPL with distinctive flair – well arched eyebrows, a trendy hairstyle, various kids and the very glamorous British actress Liz Hurley. However, he denied using botox, thus providing the tabloid press with some more fodder for debate.
If his cricketing might not have had the same edge and flair that propelled his team, Rajasthan Royals to win the tournament in their first year, yet his attention-grabbing skills were on full display. He accused his home association of ‘pitch-switching’ at the last minute, which favored the opposing team, and announced his retirement from cricket soon after.
His bow-and-arrow lead in the final few days was inevitably filled with high drama: some colorful language against Rajasthan Cricket, a USD 50k fine, a wicket in his last over, a win in his last match – The seal with the much-hyped kiss from Miss Hurley – ended Warne’s long and successful career as an IPL cricketer.
This last game was played in front of a raucous, capacity crowd at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. By the time Rajasthan dropped out of the race for a place in the play-offs, the Tendulkar-Warne had attracted cricket fans in India for nearly two decades. While it would be fair to say that India’s master batsman had better exchanges in Test and one-day cricket, the spin maestro was one of the four seasons in the IPL.
The much-discussed Warne vs Tendulkar face-off was brief – one over – and kind of ended in a stalemate. But with clever and aggressive bowling changes and field placements as well as teammates willing to give their “everything for Varney”, the captain was able to quell the home team’s strong batting.
Warne’s final over – the final over of the innings – took many of his 42 years back and saw him at his aggressive, joyous, deceitful best. Young Cannon Rohit Sharma is a batsman. The first delivery falls short in time, hitting him in the air. The intended hit at long on is missed, but the catch gets wet. The second delivery came at mid-wicket, but only. has been ambushed. Warne bounces once again, Rohit gives it the charge, misses the leg-break completely and is stumped for a mile.
In four seasons, Warne had taken 57 wickets – seventh on the all-time list – at an impressive economy rate of 7.27 runs per over. Perhaps more telling was his captaincy record – 30 wins in 55 matches – and joint second with Tendulkar, both behind MS Dhoni, who was 36 from 59 at the time. It is noteworthy that Warne won one title under the captaincy of Rajasthan (Dhoni had two titles then) while Tendulkar did not have any.
When he came to the IPL in 2008, he was a retired leg-spinner who had a dazzling display of prowess (flipper, wrong ‘un, zooter, shooter and whatever), and a much-hyped cell-phone SIM card telephone. was booked. Full of catchy numbers. With a high dose of derring-do, adventure, good spirits and fun he led the royals to unexpected victories. Warne was not only a charismatic captain but also a talisman for the IPL.
In the three years since being both a show pony and a stellar player, his love for center-stage has prepared him to battle age and fatigue. For a while in the fourth season, the Wizard of Oz had become the magician he was, but Warne was soon almost at his best, although it was clear that his team did not have enough means to go beyond a few victories. Were.
The relative failure of their overseas players and some bizarre decisions in team selection and batting order compounded the problem. This led to a noticeable change in the emphasis on his tweets as the season went on; It was less about cricket, and more about his new line of lingerie – spinners – which he launched in India in the early days of the tournament.
In the end, however, Warne had his own chills, as his feud with Rajasthan Cricket Association secretary Sanjay Dixit turned ugly, went public and he received a reprimand and fine from the IPL Governing Council.
Warne’s proximity to Lalit Modi – even after the exile of the former IPL commissioner – was no secret. It is likely that he got caught in the middle of a fight between two rival factions in the cricket administration. Did this hasten his decision to retire? In typical fashion, he promised to reveal everything soon.
Maybe we haven’t heard the last about Warne yet.
PS: As it happened, this was not the last time he was heard of in the IPL. Thereafter, however, he was discussed for Rajasthan Royals not as a player but as a consultant (after revamping the fence!) in this capacity for this season, but any such desire – the franchise and their By – Failed by the fallen blows of divinity last week.
Shane Warne, gone too soon. tear out
Get all the latest updates cricket news, cricket pictures, cricket videos, IPL Auction 2022 And cricket score Here