Monday, June 2, 2008

What Worked for the Royals

A number of factors resulted in the crowning of the Rajasthan Royals as the Champions of the Indian Premier League 2008.
  1. The Franchise owners - Emerging Media. They were the only owners who had prior experience of managing a team in a 20-20 cricket competition.

  2. The Auction. Each player was picked with a role in mind unlike other franchises that went for big names.

  3. The Captain. The only non-Indian captain in the league and one who had experience of captaining first class sides (Hampshire) and turning them into a succesful unit.

  4. The Coach. The captain was appointed as the sole leader of the pack.

  5. The Team. Each player was assigned roles by Shane Warne and they all delivered.

  6. Allround Skills. Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan showed how valuable allround skills can be in 20-20 cricket.

  7. Pep Talks. There probably isn't a better master at that than Shane Warne who made every player believe that they are the best in what they do.
These are all the factors that have been talked about over the last month as the ones that have contributed towards the success of the Royals.
Was it all this or was it just luck?
They were the least favoured team by the bookies and by the cricket experts when the competition began.
They were the underdogs who turned into favorites as the competition went on.
Yet they defied all the odds and won the inaugral Indian Premier League competition.
For me there was one and only one reason.
Shane Warne!
It is that man who made it possible.
Rock on Rajasthan Royals - hope to see you next year!

Make your pitch on this post...



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7 Pitched:

  1. Anonymous said...
     

    At least you didn't praise Smith for anything :)

    In Shane's wildest dreams he wouldn't have picked Watson to get through the series without snapping.

  2. Jrod said...
     

    Don't believe for a moment that Warne is coach though. Darren berry is the coach, Warne is just the animated front man.

    Same as David Hookes/Greg Shipherd did for Victoria, back when we used to actually win stuff.

    Hookes with the pep talks and the role players, and Ship with the coaching and everything else.

  3. Q said...
     

    They did it without Smith yesterday LB :-)

  4. straight point said...
     

    come to think of it Q...almost all the points you mentioned here were held against royals...

    now, this is called turning same thing upside down...

  5. Q said...
     

    Thats probably right Uncle J, but its still different from the way most teams do things.. even Australia.

  6. Q said...
     

    Exactly SP!

  7. Q said...
     

    You are right abt that Uncle J. Darren Berry in his latest interview talks about his coaching responsibilities...

    Good interview that..

    http://content-gulf.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/353445.html

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