Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne admits his team has suffered a big blow with the absence of Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir, two of the stars of the underdog franchise that won the first Indian Premier League.
Australian all-rounder Watson was player of the tournament last year, while Pakistan left-arm fast bowler Tanvir claimed the purple cap for being leading wicket-taker.
Watson, recently recovered from a long-term injury, joined the Royals for their training camp in Cape Town, but flies out with the Australian team next week for a one-day series against Pakistan in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Tanvir will miss the whole tournament after the IPL cancelled the contracts of Pakistan players because of political tension between India and Pakistan.
“They’re big losses,” said captain-coach Warne.
I think Shane misses the first nine games playing for Australia so he’ll be available for the last five games and hopefully the finals. The loss is complicated by IPL rules which restrict teams to fielding a maximum of four non-Indian players, with Warne and South African captain Graeme Smith likely to fill two of those places.
