IPL 2018: Shane Warne and Ajinkya Rahane's combination is ideal for Rajasthan, reckons K Gowtham

Rahane was appointed as Rajasthan Royals' skipper after Steve Smith got banned by BCCI for his involvement in the ball-tampering saga.

Rahane led Rajasthan to a 10-run victory over Delhi Daredevils earlier this week | IANS

The moment it was announced that Steve Smith won’t feature in the 11th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) because of his involvement in the ball-tampering saga, Rajasthan Royals’ think tank wasted no time in appointing Ajinkya Rahane as their captain. Since then, everyone is interested to see how the combination of cool and composed Rahane would work with the aggressive personality like Shane Warne –Royals’ mentor for IPL 2018.

As Rajasthan are gearing up to take on Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday (April 15), all-rounder K Gowtham has said that the association of Rahane and Warne is an ideal one for the inaugural IPL champions.

“We all know that opposites attract; when two completely different personalities like Shane Warne, who is aggressive and takes his chances, and Jinx (Rahane), who is always steady and likes to go with the flow, come together it makes for a great combination,” Gowtham said according to Wisden India.

“That’s the beauty of our team, we have all the ingredients required in a great team. We have an aggressor and we have someone who can sail the ship throughout, so it’s been a good mix and match,” he added.

The Rajasthan-based franchise are known for giving opportunities to the uncapped Indian players over the years. Having completed their two-year termination, RR returned to this year’s auction and picked a balanced squad with the likes of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, D’Arcy Short, Jaydev Unadkat and Jofra Archer in it. As far as the coaching staff is concerned – Rajasthan roped in veterans such as Amol Muzumdar as the batting coach and Sairaj Bahutule as the bowling coach besides Shane Warne being the chief mentor.

Gowtham, who was picked by RR for INR 6.2 crores during the IPL auction in January, also hailed Warne’s influence saying: “He laid the foundation of Rajasthan in the first season, we do a lot of brainstorming with him. He’s a great thinker of the game and passes on so much information to each of us.”

Having lost their first match of IPL 2018 at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad, the Ajinkya Rahane-led Royals side made a stellar comeback to register a 10-run victory against Delhi Daredevils in a rain-marred affair on Wednesday in Jaipur. It will be interesting to see how they will fare against the uplifted Bangalore side who won their last match against the Kings XI Punjab two days ago.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 15 Apr, 2018

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