What if Wednesday | What if Rajasthan Royals had not bought Shane Warne in inaugural IPL auction
SportsCafe
On February 20, 2008, in Mumbai, Australia’s Shane Warne became the first player to be auctioned in IPL history and subsequently, he was purchased by Rajasthan Royals for $450,000. But what if there were no bidders for Warne in the auction, and what if he’d gone unsold?
We know that Aussie legend Shane Warne was the first-ever cricketer to be auctioned in the Indian Premier League (IPL), having been purchased by the Rajasthan Royals franchise for his base price of $450,000. We also know that the move paid rich and instant dividends as Warne led Rajasthan to victory in the inaugural edition of the tournament. Interestingly, as revealed by Richard Madley, the auctioneer in 2008, the Royals were the only franchise that bid for Warne, with no one else showing any interest for the Australian. So what if the Jaipur franchise had chosen to keep their paddle down and not bid for the Aussie?
Auctioneer Richard Madley draws Shane Warne’s name out of the hat - the first in the tournament’s history - and asks for bidders at his base price of $450,000, but all eight franchises are content in letting the name pass by, given the Australian was 38 years old, out of shape and out of touch with the game. The Australian’s name once again pops up in Auction-2 on March 11th, 20 days later, but unfortunately, there are no bidders for the spin wizard for the second time running and he remains the biggest name unsold in the entirety of the auction. Knowing that they are a quality spinner short, though, the Royals decide to pull off a heist at the very last moment, snatching a relatively unknown 25-year-old leg-spinner Amit Mishra right under the nose of Delhi Daredevils.
On April 1, 2008, 17 days prior to the commencement of the tournament, the Royals unveil Gary Kirsten as the coach of the franchise for the upcoming season, and instantaneously, the South African announces that Graeme Smith will be captaining the side in the tournament’s inaugural edition. Unhappy with the team provided to him by the owners, Smith then decides to make some tweaks of his own and decides that the team will be better off with him batting at No.3, and Shane Watson and Mohammad Kaif opening the innings. This spells bad news for Goa’s Swapnil Asnodkar, who ends the whole season without getting a single game.
A horribly-knit Royals side are already being declared as ‘wooden spoon holders’ by fans and experts post their crushing 9-wicket defeat to Delhi in their first match of the season, but against all odds, the team wins its next five matches in a row to sit mighty at the top of the table. However, being the stern leader that he is, Smith is still visibly irked and infuriated by the form of a couple of his players and the Royals skipper wastes no time in completely phasing the under-performers out of the team. The victims of Smith’s wrath are 19-year-old Ravindra Jadeja - who managed to score just 40 runs and pick 1 wicket in the first 6 games - and 24-year-old Aditya Angle, both of whom are sacked from the team only to never return again.
On the verge of getting dropped is Shane Watson, too, who failed to get past the 20-run mark in each of his first six games, but Smith decides to give the Aussie an extended run in the team, purely due to the value he brings with the ball in hand. In stark contrast, however, enjoying his stint up the order is Watson’s opening partner Mohammad Kaif, whose 340 runs after the first six rounds is hundred more than any other player in the competition.
Eventually, the move to persist with Watson pays rich dividends as the Aussie blasts an unbeaten ton at Chepauk against league-leaders Chennai Super Kings to propel his side into the semi-final, and another masterclass from Kaif in the semi-final against Delhi ensures that the Royals become the first team to qualify for the IPL 2008 final.
Kaif goes on to end IPL 2008 as the highest run-getter with a staggering tally of 786 runs, and this, in turn, catches the attention of the Indian selectors, who give the 28-year-old a shocking call-up for the T20Is against New Zealand in 2009. Unlike his IPL captain Smith, MS Dhoni slots Kaif into the middle-order for the national side, and the Uttar Pradesh man makes an instant impact on his comeback, scoring 34 and 63* in Christchurch and Wellington to help his side whitewash the Kiwis.
Riding on the momentum, Kaif then backs his international form up with yet another 544-run season in the second edition of the IPL in South Africa in 2009, and without second thoughts, on May 5, 2009, chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth names the 29-year-old Royals opener in India’s squad for the World T20 in England, ahead of out-of-form Ravindra Jadeja. However, Kaif’s rejoice is unfortunately short-lived as Rohit Sharma’s elevation to the first XI means the Royals opener ends up warming the bench for the entirety of the World Cup campaign. Deeply disturbed by the snub, Kaif, on July 1 2009, announces his retirement from international cricket at just the age of 29.
Back to IPL 2008, It’s May 1, 2008, and Chennai announce that they will be without the services of both Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey for the rest of the tournament, but also reveal that they have snapped up Shane Warne and Mashrafe Mortaza as replacements for the duo. Puzzled by the signing of Mortaza, journalists question skipper MS Dhoni on why the club chose to sign the Bangladeshi pacer, to which the CSK captain replies that the franchise is predominantly aiming to use the 24-year-old tearaway quick to pepper the batsmen in the nets.
The departure of both Hayden and Hussey means that Warne slots right into the team, thus finally giving cricket tragics across the world the sight they so badly wanted to see - Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan bowling in tandem. The Aussie strikes an instant bond with the smiling assassin and the duo carve open batting line-ups in the tournament to help CSK set up a date in the final against Rajasthan Royals.
Preparations in both camps ahead of the final is intense, but CSK’s intensity crosses the line, in 24 hours ahead of the final at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, their skipper MS Dhoni is ruled out of the game with a hairline fracture, after being hit on the arm by a Mashrafe Mortaza bouncer in the nets. With little time left to contemplate, coach Kepler Wessels announces that Shane Warne would be leading the side in the final on June 1.
It’s June 1, 2008, the day of the final of the inaugural edition of the IPL, and known for his quirky decision making and his tendency to back the youngsters, standing skipper Shane Warne drops the ultimate bombshell at the toss and reveals that he has decided to drop Makhaya Ntini to accommodate newbie and debutant Ravichandran Ashwin. Warne also reveals that it would be 18-year-old Abhinav Mukund who will open the batting instead of Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, after the latter’s reckless dismissal in the semi-final against Kings XI Punjab.
Having had prior experience facing the Royals bowling - having made his debut earlier in the season against them - Mukund sizes up the bowlers and takes them on in the powerplay, scoring a 23-ball fifty. And thanks to the youngster’s knock and handy contributions from Suresh Raina and Parthiv Patel, CSK manage to set Rajasthan a total of 164 in the final.
In response, blistering cameos from the bat of Yusuf Pathan and Shane Watson leaves Royals needing just 8 runs to win off the final over, with still three wickets in hand. With all eyes firmly fixed on Shane Warne to see who he gives the final over to, the skipper takes the ultimate punt by throwing rookie Ravichandran Ashwin - who hadn’t bowled a single delivery till then - the ball.
A boundary, a couple and three swing-and-misses from the bat of Sohail Tanvir leave Rajasthan needing two runs off the final delivery, with a 21-year-old novice set to bowl it with the ball in his hand. Having seen the rookie bowl five conventional off-spinners in the over, Tanvir premeditates the final delivery and sets himself to play the lofted cover-drive over the vacant cover region, but to his dismay, he’s bamboozled by Ashwin’s “carrom ball”, which knocks the Pakistani’s off-stump over.
The time is 12.15 AM IST and Ravi Shastri calls the name of Shane Warne to come and collect the trophy, but the Australian says that it’s MS Dhoni who deserves to do the honours. Thirty seconds later, the duo lift together the coveted trophy, immortalizing the name of Chennai Super Kings as the first-ever champions in the history of the Indian Premier League.
