Sports Desk, AnyTV, New Delhi
Published by: swapnil shashank
Updated Fri, 04 Mar 2022 09:14 PM IST
Summary
Before the start of IPL, no one was considering Rajasthan’s team as a favorite, but the magic of spin magic worked in that IPL as well and made the weak looking team champion on paper.
Shane Warne and Rajasthan Royals team
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Who can forget the date of June 1, 2008. This is the same date, when the Rajasthan Royals team became the first IPL champion under the captaincy of Shane Warne. Before the start of IPL, no one was considering Rajasthan’s team as a favorite, but the magic of spin magic worked in that IPL as well and made the weak looking team champion on paper.
Rajasthan Royals team in 2008 was as follows – Shane Warne (Captain), Swapnil Asnodkar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Kaif, Kamran Akmal, Aditya Agel, Sumati Khatri, Taruvar Kohli, Daren Lehman, Parag Mor, Morne Morkel, Pankaj Singh, Neeraj Patel, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Mahesh Rawat, Anup Revandkar, Dinesh Salunkhe, Jaydev Shah, Graeme Smith, Sohail Tanvir, Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Younis Khan, Justin Langer and Dimitri Mascarenhaus were included.
Then teams like Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore were considered strong. On victory or defeat, Warne used to tell his team only one thing – don’t take victory on your head, don’t get too disappointed on defeat.
A young team then found a sensible and experienced captain in Warne. Under his leadership, Rajasthan defeated legendary teams like CSK, RCB, KKR and made it to the semi-finals. The Rajasthan team finished at number one in the group stage. In the semi-final, Rajasthan faced Delhi Daredevils team. Delhi Daredevils are now known as Delhi Capitals. Rajasthan beat Delhi by a huge margin of 105 runs.
Batting first in the semi-final, Rajasthan scored 192 for nine in 20 overs. Yusuf Pathan (21 balls, 45 runs), Shane Watson (29 balls, 52 runs), Graeme Smith (21 balls, 25 runs) and Swapnil Asonadkar (21 balls, 39 runs) were instrumental in this. In response, Delhi’s team was bundled out for 87 runs in 16.1 overs. Munaf Patel and Shane Watson took three wickets each for Rajasthan. At the same time, Captain Warne took two wickets.
In the second semi-final, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings defeated Punjab Kings and made it to the final. The final match of 2008 IPL was played at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. In this match, Rajasthan won the toss and decided to bowl. Batting first, Chennai scored 163 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs. For Chennai, Suresh Raina scored 43 runs in 30 balls and Parthiv Patel scored 38 runs in 33 balls.
The target of 164 runs was achieved by the Rajasthan team for the loss of seven wickets in the last ball. Then the RR team did not have a good start and the team lost three wickets till 42 runs. After this Swapnil scored 28 runs in 20 balls and Shane Watson also scored 28 runs in 19 balls. Later Yusuf Pathan scored 56 runs off 39 balls and brought the team closer to victory.
Rajasthan’s seventh wicket fell at 143. Shane Warne and Sohail Tanvir were batting in the last over. Both of them made the team champion. After scoring the winning run, the entire team lifted Warne on their shoulders and also took a round of the stadium. Warne never became the captain of Australia, but the way he took over the captaincy of the Rajasthan team and made it the champion, it was recorded in the pages of history forever.