The Hindu : Sport : Cricket made IPL a success: Warne

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Cricket made IPL a success: Warne

Special Correspondent

Mumbai: After a dream victory in the inaugural DLF-IPL, the Rajasthan Royals captain and coach Shane Warne declared that “as long as his body holds” he would return to the Indian Premier League.

“I will be 40 next year, a bit too old for these sorts of finishes. But the players make me feel young. The IPL is here to stay. Lalit Modi, the franchises, all made it possible. It was an entertainment package, but the IPL was successful because of cricket.”

Defining moment

Sohail Tanvir’s pull shot off Laxmipathy Balaji turned out to be the defining moment on the last day of the 44-day, 59-match entertainment-filled league for the Royals at the D.Y. Patil Stadium on Sunday night. It was the Royals’ 13th win out of 16 IPL matches, the reverses having come against Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab.

“It was just one of those things that were meant to be. After all, we are the entertainers of the IPL. No one could have written a script like that, a last-ball finish to win.

“During the journey to the ground, the number of people I saw on the way, it was tremendous.”

When asked how he felt to have won a first trophy as captain in his 20-year-career, Warne said: “I was the vice-captain of the Australian side that won the 1999 World Cup in England and I have been part of Australia’s victories in the Ashes and against India. The IPL is up there.

Proud captain

“I feel proud as a captain and coach. But I am proud for the young Indian players. I am proud for the work put in by Darren Berry and Jeremy Snape. It’s been a great seven weeks with the Royals. It goes back to the day with slips of paper and trying to remember the names of the Indian players,” he said.

About the cover drive off Makhaya Ntini, Warne said, “We knew we didn’t want to leave ourselves with too many to get in the final over. Eight off six balls, we thought we could do that.”

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