MUMBAI: Triumphant captain Shane Warne feels that more than the overseas cricketers, it was the coming of age of Indian youngsters which fetched the Indian Premier League title for Rajasthan Royals. The Rajasthan Royals of Jaipur, owned by the Emerging Media, defeated the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings by three wickets in a thrilling last-ball finish match.
The title contest of the IPL series took place at the D Y Patil Stadium for the top prize of USD 1.2 million. Warne talked of his long and happy journey in the tournament and said the key was how well players from different countries glued together to win the ultimate prize.
"The Australian players had more experience but I think it's the performance of the Indian youngsters in our team like Swapnil Asnodkar and Yusuf Pathan which I am very proud of," the leg-spin legend said after guiding the Royals to the IPL title.
Among the reasons for the success of the team, rated the underdogs of the tournament by many, was that no player was ever bigger than the team, Warne said. "The challenge was sometimes trying to ensure that players have understood our plans and tactics and ensuring that they followed it on the field.
But that is the beauty of the IPL where you are trying to get people from various backgrounds together" the leg spinner added. "Watching Yusuf Pathan and Swapnil Asnodkar coming of age and executing the plans so well has been a real pleasure for all of us.
My strength as captain was to get the best out of these players" said the retired Australian player. Despite the success of his team in the IPL in winning the tournament and earning the support of fans from across the country, Warne said he did not consider himself a hero in India. "It's been a fantastic journey. We have jelled together very quickly.
It's been one hell of a ride and it's great to see the smiles on these guys' faces and to see them learning and executing the plans," he said. The spin champion added that the script could not have been more gripping than the grand finale.
"I was hoping (Sohail) Tanvir would be on strike all the time. But to win the final at the last ball, I don't think the script writer could have done any better," he said, referring to the tension-packed final moments when the Royals required eight off the last over bowled by Laxmipathy Balaji.
Baroda's Pathan, who has already been rewarded with a berth in the India ODI team, grabbed three wickets for 22 runs to restrict Super Kings to 163 for five. Later, he guided Royals from a difficult 42 for three to the finish line, making a thunderous 56 in 39 balls which was embellished with four mighty sixes and three fours.
He was awarded with the "Man of the match" title. Opener Asnodkar had batted with carefree abandon, unafraid of using the aerial route right through the tournament and formed a formidable combination with South African skipper Graeme Smith who, unfortunately, could not play in the final after pulling his hamstring in the semifinal against Delhi Daredevils.
Hiding his obvious disappointment with a smiling face, Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni refused to blame the defeat on anyone but repented that the team did not possess more than five bowling options.
In fact, lack of options forced Dhoni to toss the ball to L Balaji in the last over, even though the pacer had already been taken to the cleaners by Rajasthan batsmen. Dhoni also praised Pathan for his superb batting and said, "He is such a player that if he sticks around for a while, he would definitely score runs at fast rate.
In batting, Swapnil (Asnodkar), (Shane) Watson and Yusuf (Pathan) have been just outstanding," he said. We had a plan but it does not work at times. Besides, playing two games in as many days was tough, but we knew this will happen."
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