On day one of the Mohali Test, Sri Lanka had shown more fight than anticipated and India had been reduced to 228-5. As Shreyas Iyer walked back to the pavilion, a section of the crowd started cheering loudly.
This reaction, at the fall of an Indian wicket, is reserved for a select few. Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni earlier, and nowadays Virat Kohli is greeted by raucous cheers on the way to the crease, never mind who the dismissed batsman is. Observed at Mohali, in 2022, with the likes of Kohli and Rohit Sharma already back in the hut, this was a weird happenstance. Then, out walked Ravindra Jadeja.
Suddenly, it made sense. Over the past couple of years, Jadeja’s batting has lifted more than a few notches. In a way, he is a shadow of the cricketer who had the first burst onto the scene – he is a proper batsman now, irrespective of conditions and opposition, finally worthy of that heavy tag of “three Ranji triple hundreds”. With the willow in his hand, Jadeja is a swashbuckler, nay a swordsman in the guise of a batsman. He is an entertainer with the bat, period.
During all those early years, those on the outside always doubted him. While that may no longer be the case, those on the inside always knew Jadeja’s real worth. “Give him time, and once he matures into a proper batsman, he will be an asset to the Indian team as an all-rounder.” That was Dhoni talking about him – in 2012.
Even so, there was someone else who first noticed and elevated Jadeja. Wind your clocks all the way back to 2008-09, when a legendary Australian cricketer bestowed the moniker “Rockstar” on the all-rounder. This thought reflected late on Friday night as the devastating news broke that the legendary Shane Warne had passed away.
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Jadeja had finished that inaugural 2008 IPL season with a batting strike-rate of 131.06, but he didn’t bowl too much (only 2.1 overs). The ‘rockstar’ performances, nowadays seen amply at Chennai Super Kings, were yet to come through.
On the second-ever night of the IPL competition, Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) handed a hiding to the Royals at Kotla. Rajasthan scored 129/8, nowhere near enough even by those early T20 standards. Delhi won in a canter – 132/1 with 4.5 overs to spare. There was no hair-dryer treatment at the loss in the Royals’ dressing room. “Nobody has died. There will be another day to fight and win,” Warne had said.
Fight they did, and in the very next match. It was Rajasthan’s first-ever home game at Jaipur, and in front of a 30000-strong crowd, they beat Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). Jadeja was one of the stars of the night, as he smacked 36 not out off 25 balls and Rajasthan won, despite needing 68 off 48 balls. It was that night Warne had first spotted Jadeja, and through the next couple seasons, built up his confidence and refined his approach towards professional cricket in a manner the then 19-year-old had never before experienced.
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This individual-to-individual impact was but a microcosm of Warne’s triumph at Rajasthan Royals. He had come in as one of the eight marquee players and given a free rein at the franchise to mould it in his mirror image.
Legend has it that initially, Warne was not too keen on taking up the Rajasthan captaincy. Then, Manoj Badale, co-owner of the franchise massaged his ego. ‘Show the world an Australian captain that they have never seen’, he is supposed to have told Warne, or at least something on those lines. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Ego isn’t a negative trait here, mind you. For, it walks hand-in-hand with genius. How many leg spinners can bowl the ‘ball of the century’ thrice, once to Mike Gatting, then replicas to Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Strauss years later? How many spinners can turn the ball like a top in Australian conditions season after season?
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A genius knows the magic he can produce, at will, and most of all, he knows that only he can produce it. This knowledge isn’t ego; it is a pure and simple fact. Only, it is unknown to the world.
In their hearts, Warne and Badale both knew who ought to be the leader, and it turned out to be so. And then evolved tales, beyond nicknames and corporate dealings, of how Warne turned a team established on a Moneyball strategy into a winning machine.
A key aspect of Warne’s leadership was to bring the group closer than ever imagined possible. It is easier done nowadays, with team-building techniques and bio-bubbles and decade-long histories. Remember, that was the first-ever IPL season and everything was new – from the ideas to coaching methods to the fact that someone of Warne’s stature was your captain and playing alongside you.
There is an incident illustrated in his book No Spin where Warne talked about how Mohammed Kaif got the same-sized room as junior players, despite his stature as an Indian international. Or, how he rectified Jadeja’s ill-discipline, a key pillar in making him the cricketer he is today.
“I spoke to the team management and we did away with the compulsory training sessions. We only had optional training sessions that season, and I found that the players trained harder when they attended those sessions. And the impact could be seen on the field,” Warne also revealed, in a documentary video released by the franchise.
That was in 2020 when Warne returned to the Rajasthan fold as a mentor and team ambassador (as also stakeholder). It was an obvious punt to reclaim the glory days of 2008 with a new bunch of players, and who knows how he would have moulded the class of 2022, newly minted at this year’s IPL auctions. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
We will always have 2008, though. Thank you, Warney, for the memories. Go well, legend!
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