When Rajasthan Royals paid $657,000 and 0.75% ownership to Shane Warne for coming out of retirement in IPL 2008

Shane Warne took his international retirement in 2007, but he came back in 2008 to play the IPL and won the trophy with Rajasthan Royals.

BCCI changed the cricketing world with the launch of the Indian Premier League in 2008. The world was witnessing the player’s auction for the very first time, and the players were being sold for millions of dollars.

Every team was going after big names in the auction, but Rajasthan Royals had a different strategy. They made their team around Australian legend Shane Warne and bought some utility picks in the auction. Ahead of the tournament, the Royals were called the weakest team on paper.

ALSO READ: Rajasthan Royals tribute to Shane Warne

However, the Royals surprised everyone and won the inaugural edition of the tournament. The players like Shane Watson, Yusuf Pathan, Sohail Tanvir etc thrived under the captaincy of Warne, and the team won the championship by beating Chennai Super Kings in the final.

Rajasthan Royals paid $657,000 and 0.75% ownership to Shane Warne

Shane Warne played his last international match in 2007, but he came out of retirement to play the IPL 2008. He was a part of the auction where Rajasthan Royals bought him. According to Herald Sun, Warne was paid $675,000 by the Royals, whereas he was also offered 0.75 ownership for every season he played.

Warne said that Rajasthan Royals asked him to lead the lead and coach the side in the way he wanted, and the results surprised everyone. He insists that they were the underdogs and none gave them any chance, but all the players punched well above their weights.

ALSO READ: Shane Warne called Rajasthan Royals one of the better teams

“Part of my deal (was) because I had retired from international cricket and I came out (of retirement), they asked me to be the captain, coach and run a cricket team the way I wanted to run it; I was the one-stop shop,” Warne was quoted as saying by the Australian paper ‘Herald Sun’.

“We were the underdogs, we were the least favoured, no one gave us a chance to win. It was the first ever year of the IPL of franchise cricket where owners bought players and players went into auctions.”

Warne played for Rajasthan Royals from 2008-2011, but he was always connected with the side in some or another way. Earlier this year, Shane Warne passed away due to a suspected heart attack in Thailand which put the whole cricketing fraternity in shock.