Former India batter Mohammad Kaif reminisced playing the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008 for Rajasthan Royals under the legendary Shane Warne’s captaincy. Warne took a talented but largely inexperienced RR unit to the coveted trophy in an inspirational campaign.
Kaif remembers how instrumental Warne was to RR’s fortunes as a captain and ace wristspinner. He bagged 19 wickets from his 15 matches in IPL 2008 with an economy rate of 7.76 in what was a high-scoring tournament. He backed that up with a few critical cameos down the order, stamping his authority with the bat in hand as well.
But for Kaif, the highlight of the great cricketer’s maiden IPL campaign and stint with the Royals was his style of captaincy.
“He was very clever, very shrewd, very attacking, chirpy, talkative – he would not relax even for a single ball,”
“I remember, for the first time, someone talking about the T20 format in detail. When bowlers used to go back to their mark, he would always go up and tell them to think about getting the wicket and bowling their best ball.
That was his mindset; he would tell every single bowler to think wickets rather than bowling dot balls or containing the batters,”
he told Sportskeeda.
Kaif was paying his tribute to Warne on the day of his shocking and untimely passing on March 4. The 52-year-old died of a suspected heart attack in Thailand where he was on a holiday with some of his friends.
Also read 👉 Legendary legspinner Shane Warne passes away aged 52
Reuters reported, Warne was found unconscious in his private villa by a friend, who had gone up to enquire about his late presence for the dinner. The friend, as well as the Thailand police, conducted repeated CPRs in an effort to revive Warne but he could not be recovered and took his last breath.
The cricket fraternity stands in dismay and disbelief and continues to mourn the demise of a once-in-a-generation cricketer, who almost singlehandedly revived the art of legspin in the 90s and early 2000s. Warne took over 1000 international wickets in his 15-year-long career.
