Durban, May 15 (Inditop) It was the old rivalry against Sachin Tendulkar that tempted Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne to ignore a serious hamstring injury and take the field against Mumbai Indians with a heavily strapped leg.
Warne was almost certain to miss the game and the rest of the IPL after he picked up the injury when he was batting against Deccan Chargers, Monday night at Kimberley.
But playing against Tendulkar was something that the maverick Australian leggie was not going to miss out at any cost after the previous encounter was washed out due to rain.
Rajasthan Royals director of coaching Darren Berry revealed that Warne ignored all warnings and took the field.
“With Sachin Tendulkar in their (Mumbai Indians) team, there was no way to stop him (Warne). His leg was strapped up but he said he was playing. And when he says he is playing, it doesn’t matter what we are saying. I think without a doubt all players look up to him. He is one of the greats of all time,” Berry was quoted as saying by iplt20.com.
As expected, Kingsmead witnessed a fantastic duel between Tendulkar and Warne. Tendulkar stroked his way to 40 off 30 balls but Warne had the last laugh by trapping the batting maestro leg before the wicket and also spun Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling win with his three-wicket haul. Warne was also adjudged the Man of the Match.
“The way Tendulkar was whacking the ball I thought it was very tough for us to win the match,” said Warne.
Rajasthan Royals’ high performance coach Jeremy Snape said that physio John Gloster worked hard to get Warne back on field.
“To be fair, our physio John Gloster has worked really hard with Warnie for the last few days. He (Gloster) has been putting ice on his leg and massaging the injured leg day and night to get him ready. I think he should be credited for this and it paid rich dividends for us,” said Snape.