IPL and Stammering

What can be the relation between IPL and stammering; not even the best of spin doctors can conjure up one. Right?

Wrong, here is one -

Rajsthan Royals have been my favorite team since this IPL jamboree began; and one man is responsible for it – Shane Warne – the greatest ever leg-spinner.

The man is a genius; whatever his shenanigans off the fields, he never let that affect his on-field performances. And what performances he has given – this man is responsible for making leg-spin fashionable again. But alas, due to his off-field issues (texting and what not), he never got to captain Australia and will always be known as the greatest captain Australia never had.

IPL gave him a chance to set that record straight and he chose to captain Rajsthan Royals. In IPL-1, everybody lambasted the team, saying it was too weak and will be the whipping boys of the tournament and sure enough they lost the first match rather pathetically. But things turned around for the better and what a turn around it was. They won 12 matches out of 14 in the league stage and were eventual winners.

Warne made stars of people like Shane Watson (till then known as underperforming and injury-prone player – man of the tournament in IPL-1), Sohail Tanveer (till then erratic bowler, highest wicket-taker in IPL-1), Yousuf Pathan (till then an unknown entity, now a huge star), Ravinder Jadeja, Swapnil Asnodkar etc.

Then came IPL-2. Shane Watson was not available due to Australia’s other commitments, Pakistani players were not available due to other issues. And Rajstan Royals have a very poor tournament.

In IPL-3, things took a turn for the worse. Watson was still not available, neither were Pakistani Players. Jadeja was banned due to some rather complicated issue. And Graeme Smith and Dmitri Mascrenhas, two of their overseas stars were injured and out for the tournament. And Warne would be the first to admit that he himself isn’t half the bowler he was, age is fast catching up. Nett result - they lost 3 matches on the trot.

Nobody would have winced twice if Warne had put the blame on player un-availability and fate. But no, our man is made of sterner stuff. He got his flock together, motivated them, assigned them specific responsibilities and did his stuff; and the band of merry-makers is at it again. They have won 4 on the trot :-)

And who are the stars, little known Michael Lumb, Naman Ojha, Siddarth Trivedi, Narwal and friends.

I can hear shouts of - Enough of Warne worshipping, what does it teach us stutterers? Well, it teaches us that it won’t do us any good to find refuge behind stammering – as we tend to do, we use stammering as scapegoat for our failures. The trick is to accept what you have, and make best use of that. Like Warnie the great did!!!