We were all doing something in our parts of the world when we heard this news at different time interval that one of the champion cricketer “Warnie” popularily known as Shane Keith Warne passed away at the age of 52 due to suspected heart attack and this news left all the cricket fans dejected.
Warne was not just a champion cricketer who picked 708 wickets in the longest format of the game and still stands at the second position in terms of clinching wickets in Test cricket trailing only behind Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who clinched 800 Test wickets.
Shane Warne not just created magic for Australia but he did the same in the inaugural edition of cash rich league where he was leader and coach of the franchise who were pretty underrated but they went on to win the IPL title.
Let’s go back to 2008, Where Royals squad didn’t have too many superstars apart from Warne and some of the names in those squad were emerging and some didn’t have great record in International circuit. Nobody gave them any chance to win the inaugural edition of cash rich league. Let’s have a look at some of the squad members for Rajasthan Royals for 2008 in the form of description below.
Mohammad Kaif, Younis Khan, Graeme Smith, Swapnil Asnodkar, Morne Morkel, Sohail Tanveer, Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan and others but the thing which we need to keep in mind that many of the players who became a big match winner later like Jadeja just started their career in 2008 post after winning Under 19 world cup in Malayasia under the leadership of Kohli who was picked by RCB.
There were pretty special performance from some of the players in that marquee event which include Sohail Tanveer who clinched six wickets and gave away only 14 runs is one of the best bowling figures till date.
Yusuf Pathan played a significant role in the Royals’ title victory in 2008. He scored 435 runs was third highest run scorer of the tournament. But more than that it was strike rate of 179.01 that instilled fear in the opposition bowlers.
There were some special innings from Swapnil Asnodkar and Kamran Khan who didn’t capitalize to play for India later.
Taking about their ride in IPL 2008 as they finished at the top of the league stage where they played 14 matches and won 11 matches and lost 3 with a net run rate of 0.632 with 22 points.
They played their semifinal and final against Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings held in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai respectively.
Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan was player of the match in both playoffs and the latter scored 56 runs from 39 balls and clinched three wickets for 22 runs in his four overs quota.
The best part about winning IPL title in 2008 was their coach and leader Shane Warne who had to wear the dual hat and fight with the tag of underrated to defy the odds to become the champion of the cash rich league.
The interesting question that might peep in your mind which current team of IPL 2022 is underrated and they can derive inspiration from Warne’s Rajasthan Royals of 2008 in the upcoming season and you need not scratch you head it will be none other than Gujarat Titians where Hardik Pandya has been given responsibility to lead his side.
With Jason Roy pulling out due to bubble fatigue they might have to do lot of pondering over how will replace this champion opener who has been remarkable for England in white ball format.
Gujrat Titians squad does have match winners like Hardik Pandya, Shubhman Gill , Rashid Khan and Mohammad Shami but some of the players in the squad is pretty young and underrated had to prove at the highest level.
With Ashish Nehra as their new coach and Gary Kirsten as their director of cricket who knows Indian players inside out as Men in Blue won 50 over world cup in 2011 when he was the coach and Dhoni was the captain.
You might see Nehra working in the forefront as coach but the likes of Kirsten who doesn’t believe in hogging much limelight will work behind the scenes and together these duo can inspire Hardik Pandya and company to lift the marquee event title.
