21 May,2011 08:59 AM IST | | Sai Mohan
Shane Warne tried to keep his emotions in check during his final outing in the Indian Premier League. Eventually, he succumbed to an evident tear.
"Well done boys," he said, while marching his troops off the field after they reduced Mumbai Indians to 133-5. His teammates wanted Warne to lead them off but the skipper wanted to send them off before him.u00a0
Rajasthan ended up crushing Mumbai Indians by 10 wickets
Ovation
The capacity crowd at Wankhede Stadium gave him a tremendous ovation as he came on to bowl against Sachin Tendulkar.
The 'we will miss you Warnie' placards and footage of Rajasthan Royals winning the inaugural IPL played on the big screen. Royals' physio had a sticker on his laptop that read 'We will miss you Jaguar'. These were little elements that reassured Warne that efforts were made to give him a grand send-off.
Not that he was craving for it. "I have always loved Mumbai ufffd great cricket lovers who understand the game. I am 42 this year and in a great place, both personally and business point of view. I want to thank everyone who supported me. Don't want any special celebrations of farewell," Warne said during the mid-innings interval.
With regards to bowling, Warne was merely a shadow of his great self, throwing down some inaccurate googlies and flippers, over pitching on a few occasions. Starting off against Tendulkar with Rahul Dravid at first slip, he got just one to beat the bat.
In his second over, Warne tried to square Tendulkar up with trademark zooters but the latter shuffled in the crease and hit it straight, before waiting for the turn and steering one through third man boundary. Having conceded 17 from two overs, Warne pulled out of proceedings.
He returned in the 16th over to concede only five runs, bowling with a slip to Sharma and Kieron Pollard. In his final over, he beat Sharma in the air with a beautifully tossed up googly but Meneria dropped a sitter at long on. Two balls later, Warne had Sharma stumped with a classic leg-break. Bowling Shane.
