I am interested in a consultancy job in IPL: Warne

MUMBAI: Australian spin legend Shane Warne, who played his final competitive game on Friday, made it clear he won't be returning as a full-time coach for the Rajasthan Royals or any other team next season but said he was interested in a consultancy role.

"This is my last game, never say never but at this stage of my life I don't see myself playing a game again. I am certainly not coming back as full time coach," Warne said after bringing down curtains on his two-decade long career with a 10-wicket win over Mumbai.

"I won't be 100 per cent in the entire tournament. Definitely no point in being here for seven weeks if you are not playing. I may come in as consultant may be ten days prior or some time in between. If they are happy I will be here for a week or so. If not I am done with the tournament will watch it on the telly," he added.

Warne said his team Rajasthan Royals was the best in the IPL competition when everything falls in place.

"We showed that when we do fire we are the best team in the competition. Our batsmen fired at the top," said the 41-year-old Australian legend after the Royals finished their IPL engagements on a high though they couldn't qualify for the playoffs.

Warne said that the blistering knock of 89 by Shane Watson that flattened Mumbai who had a modest score of 133 to defend indicated his Australian compatriot was among the very best in the world.

"If Watson is not the best batsman in the world currently, I don't know who is? He's fantastic, you could argue if he is not he is among the top two batsmen in the world. He has already apologised to me for not doing it in the earlier games. He came away with his confidence high after scoring 180 in Bangladesh," he said.

Warne also rued that prior to Friday's game, the Royals played poorly at home and lost their qualifying hopes.

"We won six games, had a washout and did not play well in the last three or four games. Disappointed with the way we have played the last three or four games. But the way we played the last game we have showed we can turn it on. One or two games here or there, that would have fetched us 17 points," he said.

"Unfortunately our batsmen did not fire through the tournament. If (Shane) Watson had one more innings like that, Ross Taylor had one or two innings like that, we would have been first or second."

Warne was also proud of Rajasthan Royals' record in four editions of the tournament in which they stood second only to Chennai Super Kings in the number of matches won.

"I am really proud of the way our guys conducted on and off the field. We have won the second most number of games after Chennai in the four years. It's a tremendous record. I am proud of the way RR have played over the last few years. I am surprised myself at how well I bowled at the age of 41."

The 41-year-old cricketer also wanted the International Cricket Council to provide a clear window for the cash-rich T20 league.

"IPL is a fantastic tournament. ICC should say no international cricket for six weeks that would do away with all the sledging. IPL is good for Indian cricket, good for world cricket.

He recalled when the IPL was conceptualised no one really knew what to expect and also complimented former chairman Lalit Modi for making it a success.

"My best memory is 2008. No one knew what was going to happen in the IPL. No one knew what to expect with franchise teams, players' auction and so on. We were the first to introduce spin and others copied it. I am happy. We came up with innovative ideas. Lalit Modi did a great job," he said.

Going ahead Warne felt IPL could do with some innovations in the form of super rounds to allow more than four foreigners in the playing eleven.

"In South Africa (in 2009) I was tossing around with plans to have two super rounds with five foreign players somewhere in the middle of the tournament to help teams struggling and make the tournament more exciting. If people like it you can increase the super rounds to three with each round coming after four games," he said.

Talking about his future plans, the leg spin legend said that this was the happiest phase of his life.

"I would like to concentrate on my poker, being with my three kids and with Elizabeth (Hurley). I am happier than I have ever been. I have made a lot of friends and business wise I have 3-4 businesses with a few more in the pipeline," he said.

He also said he had plans to start an academy for spinners.

"I want to start a spinners' academy where anyone can come and train for free. I am looking out for sponsors."

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Rajasthan Royals crush Mumbai Indians by 10 wickets

MUMBAI: It was billed as a big showdown - the last encounter between the Sheikh of tweak Shane Warne and the batting genius Sachin Tendulkar - but it turned out to be an anti-climax.

The two did come face-to-face for two overs but seemed out of sorts. Tendulkar failed to force the pace, while Warnie couldn't get his big spinners going.

In the end, however, Warne emerged the winner with the Rajasthan Royals' batsmen making a mockery of Mumbai Indians' modest total of 133, rattling up the runs in just 13.1 overs without losing a wicket. It was just the perfect icing on their captain's farewell cake and only the fourth 10-wicket win in IPL history.

Shane Watson and Rahul Dravid made their bats blaze to make the night - it was the last meeting of two legends Sachin and Shane - their own. Watson bludgeoned the MI attack scoring a whirlwind 89 (47 balls; 9x4, 6x6) while Dravid gave him fitting company with 43 (32b; 6x4). It must have rankled Warne a bit that the Royals had to bow out of IPL 4 after such a cracking show.

Earlier in the evening, a wait of eight long overs came to an end for the Mumbaikars as saw Warne marked his run-up in his trademark style. To their delight, Tendulkar had by then already had his big share of two lucky escapes, surviving two lbw appeals off left-arm spinner Ankit Chavan in the second and seventh overs.

Tendulkar went on to score a sedate 35 but the skipper did steer his side out of the woods after opting to bat first. Mumbai Indians made one of their slowest start of the season producing only 20 runs in five overs losing two wickets.

It was only after the arrival of the classy Rohit Sharma, who made 58 (47balls, 5x4,1x6) that the scoreboard really picked pace with Warne conceding as many as 11 runs in his first over.

Rohit rose to the occasion with both grace and patience and displayed his full arsenal of strokes to push MI ahead. His partnership of 48 runs in 7.3 overs with Tendulkar set the tone for an otherwise pedestrian innings on track that offered turn.

Once Tendulkar departed, slashing straight to Watson at third man off Amit Singh, Rohit took charge but his best just wasn't enough.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (Capt.), James Franklin, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Andrew Symonds, Tirumalasetti Suman, Dhawal Kulkarni, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Lasith Malinga.

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (Capt.), Shane Watson, Rahul Dravid, Johan Botha, Ashok Meneria, Ajinkya Rahane, Ross Taylor, Pinal Shah, Ankeet Chavan, Amit Singh, Sidharth Trivedi.

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Making betting legal in India would help fight corruption: ICC

NEW DELHI: ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat believes making betting legal in the Indian sub-continent would help in monitoring the bookmakers and also "make the fight against corruption easier".

"If the industry was regulated you could actually work with them, monitor them better and everything would be legal so there is reason to go underground. So our view is if it was to be regulated it would make the fight against corruption much easier for us," Lorgat said.

Corruption in the game had come to light from time to time with the latest being the spot-fixing scandal which rocked international cricket last August in England, where three Pakistani cricketers were found guilty of being involved in the scam.

Lorgat said the ICC is now toying with the concept of 'mystery shopper' to ensure that such an incident doesn't occur again.

"We have a review ongoing at the moment, an external review, to see what we have learnt out of the last decade of this anti-corruption and security unit. We certainly don't want a repeat of last year's incident," he said.

"Having said that we thought it might be worthwhile to have an independent review to see what sort of recommendations or suggestions could come out that could improve the operations or the fight against corruption.

"One of the suggestions being mooted, is the concept of a mystery shopper. Meaning that we may well have people posing as a bookmaker, and approaching players to see if they report back to the anti-corruption and security unit, which is an obligation they have got," he added.

Asked what sort of reaction the ICC have received from the players on the mystery shopper issue, Lorgat said, "Well the players I haven't heard much from but I'm conscious of the fact that the players association, FICA, initially their response was not very supportive because they felt it was some sort of entrapment.

"But it's early days it was just a thought we had, let's see what the recommendations are and if we think it's a worthwhile idea we will engage with the players and the association to see if it's implementable."

Lorgat said he was confident that the players would support the idea.

"Absolutely, I think those are things we need to support. I'm confident that the majority of players are honest and play the game in the right spirit and they would have no reservations in supporting such a move," he said.

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