"Sachin thought he wouldn't play, but Warnie got ready and went for the match" - Monty Desai on Shane Warne's tactical acumen & Rajasthan Royals' chances of reclaiming the IPL title

After a long 14-year hiatus, Rajasthan Royals (RR), who won the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), have made it to the final, where they’ll take on Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans (GT) at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday (May 29) evening.

Unlike in recent years, the Royals have been quite consistent this season, finishing second in the league phase with 18 points and a superior net run rate (NRR) than the third-placed Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

Sanju Samson and Co. lost Qualifier 1 to GT by seven wickets at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on Tuesday. They, however, made amends for it in Qualifier 2 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Ahmedabad on Friday, sealing the deal with 11 balls to spare and 7 wickets in hand.

Jos Buttler, who has lit up the tournament with his batting pyrotechnics, produced his fourth ton of the ongoing season (106*) and smashed 10 fours and 6 sixes en route to carrying the bat against RCB.

The Jaipur-based franchise have multiple match-winners in their ranks, but Buttler and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal will be the cynosure of all eyes on Sunday, given their chances of bagging the Orange and Purple Cap awards respectively. While Buttler has scored an astonishing 824 runs at an average of 58.86 this season, Chahal has snared 26 wickets at 19.50 runs apiece.

The Royals are determined to do “something special” for the legendary Shane Warne, who breathed his last on March 4 at the age of 52 and left the cricket world much poorer. If they manage to earn the bragging rights in the summit clash, what a fitting tribute it will be to the former Royals skipper, who led a team of “underdogs” to IPL glory with his tactical brilliance and pure trust in his personnel. In short, he dared and inspired others to dream big.

West Indies’ batting coach Monty Desai, who was a part of the RR nucleus between 2008 and 2015 as their assistant coach and head scout, got visibly emotional while recounting his memories of the Sheik of Tweak on the eve of the IPL final. In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, Desai, who has also served as Canada's head coach and Afghanistan's batting coach in the past, shared some fascinating anecdotes that highlight Warne’s genius, and spoke about RR’s dominant campaign this season. Here are the excerpts:

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Q: It has been a very sad year for us all, especially the Royals family, as Shane Warne died a couple of months ago. You observed him closely during your long association with RR. Could you share some lesser-known stories about him?

Desai: My first experience with Warnie was in 2009. He was very particular about ensuring that we didn’t reach the stadium too early. This was done because we organized some good preparatory camps before the start of the tournament and the match days were all about preserving energy. Let me tell you a few more anecdotes.

Earlier this season, we defended a lowly 144 against RCB in Pune. All the bowlers performed exceptionally well in the game. That day, I was thinking about Warnie purely for one reason. I distinctly remember at least three games where he defended 140-odd scores with his on-field tactics. He was always strategically a step ahead of his opponents. Do you remember how he used Kamran Khan in the last over against KKR in 2009 (10th match, April 23, 2009)? It was because of the tactic that the game went into the super over and Yusuf [Pathan] got us over the line easily.

The second instance was in Nagpur against Deccan Chargers (36th match, April 5, 2010) where we finished with a total of 159. Warnie got performances out of Abhishek Raut and Aditya Dole, people we don't talk about these days. Deccan Chargers needed 4 to win off the last over with Rohit Sharma on strike. Siddharth Trivedi was tasked with bowling that over. Warnie set up the field in such a way that it compelled Rohit to play a good shot and get out, exactly as Warnie wanted, in the deep cover region. Dole kept a flying slip even after the powerplay. I asked Warnie about it as it didn't make sense to me. But he was a man who thought ahead of his time.

Another interesting anecdote is about the game against Mumbai Indians (MI) that Warnie was not supposed to play that season. It was in Durban (45th match, May 14, 2009), if I recall correctly. That morning, I bumped into Sachin Tendulkar at the breakfast table and he casually asked me if Warnie would play the game. I jumped to the conclusion that he wouldn’t. Obviously, after a while, I realized that I had done something wrong, so I straightaway headed to Warnie’s room and told him everything. Both he and Chuck (Darren Berry, former director of coaching with RR) understood my situation and told me to relax. To my surprise, he just got ready and went for the match!

Q: Was he just playing mind games with Tendulkar, or was it a last-minute decision?

Desai: I don’t know, to be honest. I never asked Warnie about that. For me, the greatest part of the game was the way he got Sachin out in the last over. I vividly remember the mode of dismissal. He bowled a couple of balls down the leg-side, as if showing that he wasn’t in his best form. He eventually dismissed Sachin off the third ball of his final over and was adjudged the Man of the Match. I later on asked him if he had planned it, and he said yes. Sachin swept the first two deliveries, but couldn’t read the flipper that got him out LBW. In hindsight, with all these memories flooding my mind, the news [of Warne’s death] came as a great shock. I was in Antigua at the time and couldn’t come to terms with it. After Manoj Badale (co-owner of RR) and others in the RR setup confirmed the news, all these stories came live in front of my eyes (in a choked voice).

Q: So many lesser-known players became match-winners under his captaincy…

Desai: The man was something else. I’ve seen first-hand how some of the youngsters grew in confidence under Warnie’s leadership. They bought into his ’play hard, party hard’ mantra. Look, I come from a conservative Indian background where we work hard and try to be more sincere, but Warnie opened up my views on these things. You need to strike a balance at the end of the day. He was able to get the best out of several local players because they felt that they could approach him easily. Dinesh Salunkhe, Kamran Khan, Swapnil Asnodkar, Siddharth Trivedi, Dishant Yagnik, Pravin Tambe or even Yusuf Pathan and ‘rockstar’ Ravindra Jadeja for that matter – so many names spring to mind.

Q: Until a few years ago, the Royals were referred to as a ‘Moneyball’ team, but now they seem to have overcome the tendency, and spend big on certain players. How do you view this change in philosophy?

Desai: One of RR’s philosophies that I can talk about is that we’re always willing to learn from other successful teams like Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. I’m talking about the period from 2009 to 2015. Some of our discussions back then would revolve around the analytical team and the budget that we were given. Given the budget, it was clear that we had to look for many lesser-known players. Tambe is a prime example of that. He was a blessing to us and the perfect definition of ’passion'. I won’t disclose any names, but we initially wanted to sign a better-known leg-spinner in 2013. However, the player later told us that he had already signed up for another franchise. I happened to be watching the DY Patil T20 tournament around that time. Tambe performed exceedingly well there against established IPL players. I told Rahul [Dravid] and Zubs [Zubin Bharucha, RR's director of cricket] about him, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Back then, the uncapped players were outside the auction, so we really had to move around and scout new talent. With the inclusion of uncapped players in the auction, we had to embrace a new philosophy. The trial-and-error method [of choosing players] has continued and we’ve made some mistakes in the past. It would be unfair for me to judge anything that has happened since 2018, but I do pick Zubin’s brain at times. I consider him a very integral part of the Royals family since the inception of the IPL. Manoj Badale, too, deserves a lot of applause. If the ownership group doesn’t embrace the need for a change, it doesn’t reflect in the hierarchy. Kudos to them for backing Kumar Sangakkara and Paddy Upton. I’m sure Sanju has had his say in the selection of certain players as well.

Q: Which Indian players from the RR squad have impressed you the most this season?

Desai: Most of them. I see a much more settled batting line-up this season, and roles that are well executed by the players. Take a look at Yashasvi Jaiswal. I’ve been seeing him since he was 16 years old. I see him as someone who has been given the license to completely go after the powerplay bowlers and he has played the role beautifully. Then you look at Devdutt Padikkal, whom we picked at the auction. We think of him only as a top-order batter, but he has done a wonderful job batting at no. 4. It has given the team a lot more flexibility. [Ravichandran] Ashwin has been a revelation with the bat this season. I was reading somewhere that former India head coach Duncan Fletcher told him that you can only get better at something if you make more mistakes. It’s a fantastic advice. Having been a part of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) for Albert Tuti Patriots and Lyca Kovai Kings in the past, I’ve seen Ashwin from close quarters. He’s always willing to learn and reinvent himself. No team gives you a better opportunity to think outside the box than RR. This comes from the ownership group, and Warnie and Chuck’s philosophy of ’finding the way'. Chuck used this phrase frequently. It’s all about constantly evolving and having the courage to dare. Ashwin’s partnership with Yuzi [Yuzvendra Chahal] augurs well for the Royals. Yuzi looks very hungry this season.

Will spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal (left) and Ravichandran Ashwin (right) bowl RR to victory in the IPL final? Image: RR Media

Q: It seems that Chahal was wounded after RCB didn’t make a bid for him at the mega auction…

Desai: That’s the flavour of the IPL, isn’t it (laughs)? You only learn when you release a player and he performs well for another team. What about Trent Boult with his new-ball impact and outstanding numbers? Most of the teams don’t have two great spinners in the playing XI. They have a formula that pairs an international spinner with someone lesser-known. That’s where we did very well: to have two great spinners in one team. I’ll also praise Prasidh Krishna for the way he has evolved of late. When we [West Indies] played the ODIs against India in Ahmedabad earlier this year, the biggest difference for me was Krishna. I think he’ll have a big impact in the final.

Q: Sanju Samson is more gifted than most of his contemporary batters, yet he has never quite had a terrific season in terms of consistency. Why do you think he’s unable to reach his full potential?

Desai: Sometimes, we judge a player without considering the context, his team role and most importantly, 120 balls. Everyone has got different ways to succeed and this is my personal opinion. If someone plays the first ten overs at a certain tempo and accelerates thereafter, and then there’s Sanju who strikes at 150 from the outset and boosts the scoring rate, who would you prefer? People should also look at that. How does Sanju strike so well? Isn’t that part of his success? Why are we only looking at batting averages? Who doesn’t want to win the Orange Cap, but what I really like about Sanju is that he’s still willing to bat fearlessly. In a perfect world, he would like to score a lot more runs, but not at the cost of freedom. He’s a great student of the game who’s willing to learn every season. One particular thing I’ve noticed about Sanju this season is that he’s not only striking the ball well, but also taking on the spinners and getting into good positions. If the need arises, he can also play the reverse sweep nowadays, which I haven’t seen him do before. He’s willing to put doubts in the bowlers’ minds.

I’ve seen him ever since he appeared for RR trials on a small Jaipur ground. The very first shot that he played brought a smile to Rahul’s face. Coming from Mumbai, I obviously heard a lot about Rohit Sharma when he used to play age-group cricket. People questioned his so-called inconsistency back then, but people stuck around him and gave him a long run. There’s no doubt in my mind that if you give Sanju a long run, he’ll do very well for India. He’s someone who can change the course of a game at no. 3 in T20s.

Q: Shimron Hetmyer and Obed McCoy have proved to be two valuable additions to the RR squad this season. As part of the West Indies support staff, what’s your assessment of them?

Desai: In all earnestness, I wanted to see if Hetmyer could consistently execute the role that the Royals had assigned him at the start of the season – that of a finisher. I must say that he has passed the test with flying colours. I give full credit to the Royals think-tank for believing that he can be their finisher and for helping him become consistent in that role.

In McCoy’s case, the Royals asked me last year how I felt about him. I told them he was very skilful, but needed a bit more experience. Sometimes what happens is that with senior players around, the experience rubs off on the younger players. I’m so happy for both of them.

Q: Both RR and GT have formidable bowling attacks. Do you think the onus will be on the batters, especially the in-form Jos Buttler, to guide RR to victory in the final?

Desai: From our experience of playing on the Ahmedabad wicket, I can tell you that the par score will be somewhere between 160 and 180. Buttler does have a role to play because he’s in splendid form, but there are enough match-winners in this RR side. I keep emphasizing the 'one-ball battles' and I think that the Royals can post or chase a 160-plus total on that surface. I would say it will be a special occasion for players like Ashwin and Chahal. Gujarat boast some exciting players as well. Eventually, it will all boil down to personal desires. That’s why I feel that the experience of Ashwin and Chahal will be crucial for RR.

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