The Rajasthan Royals will come roaring back in the second half of IPL 2020. This was Shane Warne’s prediction as he visited the Gulf News on Wednesday.
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#IPL2020 #cricket #ShaneWarne
Read the full story: https://bit.ly/2SQfc4E
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
#IPL2020 #cricket #ShaneWarne
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NewsTranscript
00:00It's been quite difficult for the players, being in a bubble.
00:02I've been in a bubble since sort of February.
00:05So I've just come out in the last couple of days,
00:07so it's nice to be back into the land of the living.
00:12This is Gautam Bhattacharya here from Gulf News.
00:15With me, I've got my colleague, Shyam Krishna.
00:17Hello.
00:18And we have got a very, very special guest at the newsroom today.
00:21I'll just do your kind of two questions,
00:23and you will know whom I'm talking about.
00:25If there is a gold standard in legspin bowling, it's him.
00:29If there's a talk about who bowled the ball of the century, it's him.
00:33Yes, that's Shen Wong.
00:35Thank you very much for having me.
00:36Who is in Dubai right now as the brand ambassador and mentor of Rajasthan Royals.
00:42Shen, how's your stay going?
00:43I mean, you've been here for about three weeks now, including a bubble stay.
00:47How is it?
00:47First of all, thank you very much for having me.
00:49It's a pretty exciting time to be here in Dubai.
00:52The IPL is such a huge event, and we're such a major part of it.
00:56The Rajasthan Royals were a very popular franchise,
00:59and we're doing OK in the tournament so far.
01:01The first, just to let people know that the first game
01:04had over 200 million eyeballs watching the first game.
01:07So if you put that in comparison to the Super Bowl, it has about 100 million.
01:11So this was the first game.
01:12So it just puts it in perspective about how big the IPL is
01:15to have all the best players in the world being here in Dubai to play.
01:20It's been quite difficult for the players being in a bubble.
01:23I've been in a bubble since sort of February.
01:25So I've just come out in the last couple of days.
01:26So it's nice to be back into the land of the living.
01:29It's been fantastic to be here.
01:30I've always loved coming to Dubai
01:32and I'm looking forward to the IPL.
01:34I think the Rajasthan Royals boys are ready to fire.
01:38The big boys haven't performed as well as we would hope yet,
01:41but it's about peaking at the right time.
01:44So we're only halfway through the tournament.
01:46So this is a time where the big boys stand up now
01:48and hopefully we can make a big push for the finals.
01:50You said that it had been very tough for the players.
01:52And that that's what I would like to ask you this question.
01:56When the IPL was starting, there was a bit of an apprehension
01:58that, you know, these players are fighting out of a downtime of five months.
02:03Then, you know, then the bubble.
02:05So we were wondering that, you know, if there will be issues in the fitness,
02:08if there will be issues with the intensity that there is.
02:12They're playing closed doors.
02:13But on the other hand, we saw them all charged up.
02:15I mean, we had wonderful batting performances, bowling.
02:19And some of the people had been putting their bodies on the line for the saves.
02:23So surely a lot of credit goes to the players
02:26as to how they kept themselves ready.
02:28Oh, absolutely.
02:28I mean, the sacrifices the players are making for all of us
02:31to be able to switch on our TVs and watch sport.
02:33I think for all the sports around the world,
02:36we've got to say thank you to the people that are participating
02:38and going into these bubbles and sacrificing time away from their families.
02:41Guys like Josh Butler have been in a bubble for five months,
02:44and it's going to be longer.
02:45A lot of the guys could be longer.
02:47Indian and Australian players go straight from IPL on a private plane
02:51to Australia and play three T20s, three one days,
02:55and four test matches in Australia to finishes, I think, at the end of January.
02:58So it's a long time for those players to be in a bubble
03:01and to keep a high performance level up and the intensity up all the time.
03:04But I think they're doing a great job.
03:05Some of the matches we've seen have been unbelievable,
03:07especially from the Royals.
03:08You know, we've had a couple of great wins from where we didn't think we were.
03:11We thought we were gone.
03:12And then Mr.
03:13Towadia came in the superstar and went whack and away we went.
03:17The cricket's been phenomenal.
03:19You know, I think everyone's missing the crowds.
03:21You know, the people make the IPL, the fans make the IPL, the energy.
03:25I think the players feed off all that sort of stuff.
03:28The atmosphere at the grounds always is amazing.
03:31So I think the standard of cricket has been outstanding
03:34for behind closed doors, no crowds, bubble life.
03:37It's been fantastic cricket.
03:39So I'm sure there's big games coming.
03:40We're only halfway through.
03:42We've still got a long way to go yet.
03:43So it's some more exciting games to come.
03:45I can't help but just ask that question about third year.
03:48You know, in a team which has got the big four in the squad,
03:52if you talk about the Rajasthan Royals performance,
03:55if you take it to the man on the street, you'll say that, you know,
03:57like doing a Tewatia, that's the kind of coinage
04:01which we have had over this one month.
04:04So what do you make of this guy as a cricketer?
04:06He's a leg spinner.
04:07He's such a hard hitting utility cricketer.
04:09Do you think he's going to go far?
04:11Well, Mr.
04:11Te-wow-tia, as we've been calling him.
04:15Look, I think he's always had the skill.
04:18You know, he's a great all round talent.
04:21He tries so hard in the field.
04:22He's a brilliant fielder.
04:23He brings great energy with the bat.
04:25He can adapt to any conditions, situations in the match.
04:30And with the ball, with his leg spinner, we've been working with him.
04:33Excuse me.
04:34We've been working with him a fair bit with his leg spin.
04:37And that's coming on.
04:38That's coming on really well, too.
04:39He's bowled some important overs.
04:41So, yeah, look, he's been a superstar for us.
04:43And as you say, the big four, once Stokes, Smith, Butler and Sampson,
04:48if they find some consistency,
04:50and then you put in Jofra, Archer, Te-wow-tia and these guys,
04:53I mean, that's a pretty good side.
04:55It's got to be.
04:55I mean, every side's got some big players.
04:57But if you're picking a World XI team,
04:59you know, Joss Butler would be opening the batting.
05:01Ben Stokes would be the all rounder.
05:03Archer would be the lead fast bowler.
05:06So we've got some World XI players.
05:07We've got some great players
05:09and we've got a good mix of youth and experience at our side.
05:12So I think if we you know, it's not you don't want to win your first
05:16four or five games, although it would be nice.
05:18You want to try and find your best team, find some form at the right time.
05:21And then as this sort of stage in the middle of the stage of the tournament,
05:24getting to the end, that's when you find your form.
05:27That's when you start to peak and then you hit the finals running.
05:30And and that's where you can make some do some pretty amazing things.
05:34Are you worried about the batting now?
05:35I think everyone's a little bit worried about it
05:37because we'd like to make some more runs from those guys.
05:39So I think, look, their class players, you know, forms temporary, classes permanent.
05:45These guys will perform.
05:47You know, they just will. We just know they will.
05:49Maybe it's tonight against Delhi.
05:50Maybe it's the big one tonight.
05:51They all come out firing.
05:53So I think I look, it's a concern, but I'm not worried about it, really.
05:57I suppose I think if it was
06:00if they weren't performing just before the finals and that that'd be a bit of concern.
06:04But we've got seven games before the finals still.
06:06So I think they'll find that form that we need them to.
06:09What do you make of the power plays?
06:10You don't see too many runs in the power plays because the best you see is something like,
06:15say, 60 is the best we had.
06:17And that too, not too often.
06:18Most of the time it's around 40.
06:20But power plays, people really fire.
06:22But we haven't seen much of that here.
06:23Yeah, well, we got 69.
06:25We were one for 69 against,
06:27I think Kings 11.
06:28There's been a couple of 50s.
06:30I think it's it all depends on the opposition.
06:32It all depends on the pitch.
06:35So it's not as much as we want to see 55, 60 runs every single power play.
06:40Sometimes the tactics are to not lose wickets in that power play and only be 40, 45
06:45because their back end bowling is not as good or they haven't got the spinners in the middle,
06:49but they're strong up front.
06:50So there's different tactics against different teams.
06:52You don't just go out there and smash it every game.
06:54You know, you're coming up against Rabada or Boomera.
06:57It's a little bit different because if you go too hard, you lose too many wickets in the power play.
07:01So there's no one set formula.
07:02It's all different depending on, as I said, the conditions.
07:05Sharjah is somewhere different where it's so small, you want to get off to a big score.
07:09So you need that big start.
07:11Dubai and Abu Dhabi, a little bit different.
07:13Coming to, you know, the art of leg spin,
07:15I mean, we have to ask you this.
07:18I'm sure you've answered it a thousand times.
07:21You know, the situation has improved in the favor of leg spinners so much that
07:25before, if you were struggling to get one quality leg spinner per team,
07:28now you've got, say, at least a couple.
07:30I mean, in your team, you've got Gopal and Rahul.
07:34So how did this phenomenon come about?
07:36I mean, how would you explain this?
07:37I think when T20 cricket first started,
07:40people thought there was going to be the end of spin bowling.
07:44What we've seen in the world, I think out of the top 10 T20 bowls in the world,
07:48nine of them are spinners.
07:50So the spinners have played such a huge role,
07:53and especially this resurgence of leg spin bowling
07:56has been fantastic in T20 cricket.
07:58Now, every team wants at least one, if not two,
08:01or sometimes three.
08:03Sometimes a batsman that bowls a bit of part-time leg spin.
08:05So it's really important that I think people are looking
08:08and are more encouraging for leg spin bowlers.
08:10So that's why we're seeing more of them.
08:12And I think just in this form of the game,
08:14they can be such a lethal weapon.
08:18So it's great for a spin bowler like myself
08:20to see spinners being successful in the IPL.
08:22Again, just on the topic of leg spin,
08:25you have leg spinners from all over.
08:27So now you have a Nepali leg spinner.
08:28You have an Afghan leg spinner.
08:30But you don't see any leg spinners from England.
08:32You don't see any leg spinner from South Africa.
08:34South African leg spinner is Pakistan-born.
08:35That is Imran Tahir.
08:37But otherwise, there's nobody coming out of that.
08:40Same as the case with New Zealand.
08:42These three countries have failed to produce leg spinners of late.
08:46The last leg spinner from England was Ian Salisbury.
08:49After that, we haven't seen him.
08:50Why do you think...?
08:51Well, England don't usually produce leg spinners.
08:53They just don't.
08:54If you look through the history of the game,
08:55they haven't produced a lot.
08:56And that's because of the weather.
08:58It's very hard over there when it rains all the time
09:00to grip the ball as a leg spinner.
09:01That's why they have more finger spinners in England.
09:03South Africa, they've mainly been fast bowlers.
09:06They haven't had a history of leg spinners.
09:08They've had a few ages ago, but not in recent times.
09:12Tahir played for South Africa.
09:13So you can say he's Pakistan-born,
09:15but he played for South Africa.
09:17And he's done very well for them.
09:19New Zealand's got a...
09:19He played for the Royals, Ish Sodhi.
09:21He's a very good leg spinner.
09:22There's a couple other good young leg spinners at New Zealand.
09:25I think all the countries have them.
09:27It's a matter of whether they're going to be able
09:29to perform on the big stage in pressure times.
09:32And I think they can.
09:33I think the leg spinning stocks around the world
09:35at the moment are fantastic.
09:36The best they've been for a long time.
09:39Rashid Khan, Yassir Shah.
09:42There's so many good leg spinners.
09:43Adam Zampa from Australia.
09:45There's lots of them.
09:46We can keep going.
09:47There's so many.
09:48We don't want one type of leg spinner.
09:49We don't want one type of off spinner.
09:51We don't want one type of left arm spinner.
09:52We want different types of spinners.
09:55And I think that's what we're seeing at the moment.
09:57But none of them seem to turn the ball as much as you did.
10:00Most of them, if you look at Rashid Khan,
10:02he marginally turns the ball.
10:03There's not too many leg spinners now that bowl the nice
10:06Kuldeep Yadav from India.
10:08He's one of the left arm, slow sort of leg spin bowls
10:11that spin the ball a lot.
10:13And I think that mainly guys like Rashid with T20,
10:16a lot of the leg spinners are bowling faster
10:18and not just trying to spin the ball a little bit,
10:20but both ways.
10:21You have to spin the ball both ways.
10:22If you can't spin the ball both ways,
10:23you're going to get whacked.
10:24So I think it's just a different type of leg spinner
10:27of what we've seen.
10:28But I still think in test cricket,
10:30we're still seeing a few leg spinners like Yadav
10:32that can bowl nice and slow,
10:34good spin both ways and spin it a lot.
10:36Before we wrap up, one question.
10:39I mean, this year had been a very difficult one
10:41for the entire civilization, we know.
10:43Now we know that as Shen Won,
10:45you have done your bit for the bush fires.
10:49Your cap was auctioned for a fair bit,
10:51raised a fair bit of money.
10:53Then when the pandemic started,
10:56then your company switched over
10:57to production of hand sanitizers.
10:59That was quite significant.
11:02So do you have any plans as to how you can help out,
11:07reach out to people around these times,
11:09like this difficult time?
11:11A really tough year for everyone.
11:12Small businesses, families, it's been really tough.
11:16Everyone's struggled.
11:18So I think for me, I've been lucky enough in my life,
11:21I've been very grateful for the opportunities
11:22that I've had.
11:23So I've always been able to try and give back
11:26as much as I possibly can.
11:27It's not always financial.
11:29Sometimes it's time, spending time with children.
11:32I had a foundation that ran for a long time.
11:34We raised nearly $5 million.
11:36We saved lives.
11:38We made a significant difference to families.
11:41I've always tried to do my bit for charity over the years.
11:43In recent times with the bush fires,
11:46that was, I think everybody saw the pictures in Australia
11:48about how that affected the animals, people's houses,
11:52they lost everything.
11:53So I wanted to show Australia how much it touched me.
11:57I think when we all saw those pictures,
11:59we were all touched and everyone tried to do their bit.
12:01So I gave my baggy green cap that I played with
12:03and sat next to me in the change room in every single game
12:07and it raised over a million dollars.
12:09And then I took it on a tour around Australia,
12:11which raised another, I think half a million dollars.
12:14And now that lives in the Bradman Museum,
12:16which is fantastic.
12:17And then, as you said, when the pandemic started,
12:20I've got a gin company called 708 Gin
12:23and my partner's in it.
12:25One of them is a doctor
12:27and he saw firsthand in the hospitals,
12:29how hard it was and how much everybody needed
12:33and required hand sanitizers.
12:34So we turned into hand sanitizer.
12:36So we donated all that hand sanitizers for nothing
12:39to the hospitals in Western Australia
12:41to help out at the hospitals too.
12:42I'm lucky enough that I can give back.
12:44Charities, like some of the charities
12:46have really struggled this year as well.
12:48Every single charity, they can't hold events.
12:50So it's been difficult.
12:51I bought out my own fragrance this year,
12:54which smells pretty good.
12:57And we gave all the proceeds and all the profits
12:59went to a children's charity called My Room,
13:02which is helping children beat cancer.
13:04So we're about to give a big check for that charity too.
13:06So I like to think that I've done my bit for a long time
13:10and I'll continue to do my bit,
13:12whether it be financial,
13:13whether it drive to go and see some young boys or girls
13:17from Make-A-Wish or whether it's to visit hospitals,
13:19I'll continue to do that thing
13:20like I have done for 30 years.
13:22Because if we can make a child smile,
13:23it's pretty rewarding.
13:24And some of those children,
13:26what they're battling at the moment is really, really tough.
13:29So if we can help out in any way,
13:30it's nice to be able to do that.
13:31Wonderful words to conclude with.
13:33Thank you very much for having me.
13:35Go the Royals.
13:36Hullabull.
13:37Yes.
13:37That's it.
13:38Let's hope that the campaign picks up from here
13:39and the last win was a cue.
13:41Yes, absolutely.