The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : ‘It will be a fairytale finish’

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‘It will be a fairytale finish’

Special Correspondent

Mumbai: No one will question Shane Warne’s captaincy credentials.

Leading Australia in 11 ODIs, he won 10. Ian Chappell ran a crusade to make him captain of the Australian team. The feisty leg-spinner has led the Hampshire county team with some success too.

The DLF-IPL offered him a chance and he grabbed it. Sharing the dressing room with an assorted group of Indians and a handful of Pakistanis, a South African and a fellow Australian, he has moulded Rajasthan Royals into a winning unit. After a gruelling schedule, Warne, in spite of winning 12 matches, was not inclined to say that his side has played the best cricket. Clearly he wants the cup.

“I have been part of Ashes win and victories against all countries, away and home. The IPL is up there for me. Anything new is exciting. For a side that no one gave a chance initially, it does not get better than this. It would be a fairytale finish should we go on to win the final,” he said after his side’s win over Delhi Daredevils.

Beaming at the press conference on Friday night, Warne praised Swapnil Asnodkar, Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan, Siddharth Trivedi and predicted that they would be the future India players and a few of them would become ‘superstars’.

Smith to miss final

However, Graeme Smith will miss the final after he pulled a hamstring in the semifinal against Delhi Daredevils. Either Kamran Akmal or Younis Khan will take his place.

“We have to decide whether we want a solid or a flying start. We have also to take into account the rival attack,” said Warne. “It’s nice everything came up right in the semifinals. Shane Watson has been wonderful and has the potential to become a world class all-rounder. He seemed to have lost the edge in the last two games, so I had a go at him and he showed his class.”

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