In the first season of IPL in the year 2008 under the captaincy of legendary Australian spinner late Shane Warne, the team of Rajasthan Royals became the winner. The team has reached the final in IPL 2022 after 14 years and will face Gujarat Titans on Sunday. Meanwhile, a story from the first season related to the team has come to the fore. A few days before the start of the 2008 season, Shane Warne threatened to leave the team due to differences with franchise owner Manoj Badale over team selection.
In his autobiography No Spin, without revealing the identity of the player, Warne wrote that he had refused to change the squad of 16 players on the demand of Badale. There was a tussle between the two about this. Warne, along with the coach and senior players, had cut the list of 50 players. This is the case after that.
In the 10-day long team trial, Australian greats like Ravindra Jadeja and Swapnil Asnodkar were impressed by uncapped Indian players but were not impressed by the player he described as Asif. On the basis of the data, Badale pressed for the inclusion of Asif and only then Warne gave an ultimatum. His reasoning was simple, he was fair in assessing the players in the trials and said that he would lose respect in the dressing room by including such a player.
Warne had said, “If I give Asif a place in the squad, he will come to know that he is not talented and he is there because of partiality. At that point, I would lose their trust. So if you want Asif in the team, that’s fine, but I’ll give you your money back. I don’t want to be a part of it. ‘Are you serious?’ Manoj Badale asked. I said I am completely serious.”
The next day the Rajasthan owners came up with a new formula. He wanted that Asif should not be included in the list of 16 players, but he should be allowed to wear the team shirt and stay in the dugout. Warne even refused to do so. The veteran said, “No, this area is too small for all of us and anyway I don’t want him to sit there. Again it will feel like we are doing him a favor.” Manoj said to this, “Okay. “The matter is closed there. Warne got the team he wanted and there was mutual respect between the owner and the captain.