He’s the only player of the Rajasthan Royals’ present clan who knows the feeling of holding a trophy, having played a dominant role in 2008. Six years later, Shane Watson has taken over the legacy of Shane Warne and Rahul Dravid as he’s given the responsibility of leading the side in IPl 7. In an e-mail interview with Krishnaraj Singh Jasana, he spoke about his new role, Dravid’s influence and IPl though he was evasive on the contentious issue of Royals not playing a single game in Jaipur and also chose to be politically correct on the the spot-fixing scandal. Excerpts
Relishing the opportunity to lead Rajasthan Royals after playing for them for six seasonsIJ
Rajasthan Royals have always been led by such quality leaders from Shane Warne to Rahul Dravid and Paddy Upton and their working relationship last year is something I have never experienced in a team. I’m lucky to be a part of such an incredible franchise and I’m honoured to be able to have the opportunity of captaining Rajasthan Royals.
As a leader, what do you aim to bring to the tableIJ
Being a full time captain will certainly help me grow as a cricketer. But apart from the individual performance, I believe that I’ll be able to help cricketers and individuals around me grow. In the end, how I’m able to contribute to a collective performance is more important than focusing on individual performance. As a leader and as a captain I’ll focus on getting the best out of everyone around me, on the field and off the field.
How confident are you of a second IPl title this yearIJ
I’m as confident as I’ve been every time that I’ve played for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPl. All we’re really here to do is create an environment where people can get the best out of themselves. We’re here to win the tournament, there’s no question about that. We can’t win every single game, and we know how the game works, but if we’re able to stick to our plans and execute well under pressure than we’re giving ourselves the best chance at winning.
There seems to be an Australian style in the way RR play their game, may be Shane Warne’s or youreffect. Is there a similarity between the two unitsIJ
There’s always going to be an Australian flavour when Shane Warne initially took over and built the franchise up so successfully like he did. But in the end, we’ve really been able to massage around the best for us to win in all different conditions. Initially it was an Australian flavour, but now we’ve been able to blend in with the quality of players that we’ve and bring the best out of the players that we’ve. So it’s certainly not the Australian way, it’s more the Rajasthan Royals way of getting the best out of the players that we’ve.
A word on Dravid. What would be the impact on the team now that he would not play a part on thefieldIJ
He’s certainly going to help us a lot. Rahul’s one of the most incredible people I’ve met in my life, whether it’s his cricket abilities, his cricket expertise or just the high quality person that he’s. Having him around is certainly going to help every single person in our group, and he’ll certainly release the pressure off me. To know that Rahul’s there, his experience, I always got someone I can talk to.
last year, RR came very close to winning both IPl and Champions league titles. Had something gonewrong in betweenIJ
No, I don’t think anything went wrong at all! I think we have been consistent right through because we’ve always been competitive. There have always been games that can go either ways. And I know as a team we’ve always prided ourselves as a team that fights till the end. Sometimes the game’s going to go your way and sometimes not. How we are able to perform consistently right through a tournament doesn’t mean that the result is always going to be consistent because that’s the way the game goes.
As a tournament, how do big players like you look at IPl. Is it like six weeks of having fun while atworkIJ
(laughs) It certainly is six weeks of having fun because I’ve always loved my time at the Rajasthan Royals. To have the opportunity to be able to play with somebody like Graeme Smith, who I played with in the first year and get to know him personally; to play with Rahul Dravid who I looked up to as a young kid, to be able to play alongside players like Sanju Samson and play with him, Ajinkya Rahane ... that is what is so much fun to me, and that’s why I come and play each year for Rajasthan Royals.
How do you look back at the journey from being a talented young all-rounder wanting to make a markin international cricket at the time of IPl-1, to one of the known faces of the game todayIJ
The IPl was the catalyst in 2008 for me to go on and become the cricketer that I’ve always dreamed of being. I always look back on my career in general and can’t believe how lucky I am to have had the opportunities that I have had, to be around such high quality people, to play the game that I’ve loved since I was born, and every day that I play now, I know that I’m extremely blessed to be able to continue to do what I love doing and have some success along the way as well.
Your thoughts on the current squadIJ
We’ve got, in my thoughts, the strongest squad we’ve ever had for the Rajasthan Royals. We’ve got really hard quality options and back-up for every position in our team which we haven’t exactly had every year in the past. But that doesn’t certainly guarantee success or any more success than we’ve had previously because the opposition have got the same thing as well with one less team this year means that there’s more hard quality players in every list as well. So I think it’s going to be the most toughly fought and evenly fought IPl that’s been so far because the quality of players that are in every single squad is pretty amazing.
Finally, how difficult would it be for the team to concentrate with all the off-field happeningsIJ
The new guys at the Rajasthan Royals, and we all in the team know what is expected of us, everyone knows what is right and what is wrong and if you do the wrong thing it will be found out. Not just in our team, in every team that you are playing, everyone knows what the rules are. There is not going to be any added emphasis on what we can do and what we can’t do. Everyone knows where the lines are and we certainly have to make sure that we never cross it.