Shane Warne has wonderful memories with Rajasthan Royals, but not so much with the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Until now, perhaps, as the Royals, mentored by Warne, got off to an explosive start to the IPL with two straight victories at Sharjah.
Warne, who led Royals to a fairy tale triumph at the inaugural 2008 IPL, is back with the franchise in the UAE. The spin great hopes that through his team, there will be a personal redemption as well, for the nightmare he endured at the hands of Sachin Tendulkar during that torrid “desert storm” innings from 1998.
In an interview, Warne talked about the ‘fear factor’ of Jofra Archer.
“Jofra’s a superstar. He brings the x-factor to the table, the fear factor for the opposition. They would all spend so much time talking about Jofra Archer as in ‘do we see him off? Or, do we try to score off him? how do we play him?’’ he said.
“He’s a weapon and can change the course of the game in an over or two. The last four or five overs are so important for the batting team and when you’ve got Jofra bowling a couple of overs at the end it’s very difficult. So, some of the opposition teams might have to go a little bit earlier rather than wait till the end because they’ve got to face Archer. Tactically that’s an advantage” the legendary leg-spinner added.
