Former Australian spin-wizard Shane Warne has admitted he will miss the services of Australian all-rounder Shane Watson and Pakistani left-arm pacer Sohail Tanvir for the upcoming second season of the Indian Premier League.
The second season of the IPL commences on Saturday and defending champions Rajasthan Royal will be playing their first match on the opening day of the tournament against the Bangalore Royal Challengers.
However, the Royals will start off their IPL campaign without their star players from last year: Shane Watson who was named Player of the Tournament in the maiden edition and Sohail Tanvir who won the Purple Cap for being the highest wicket-taker in last years’ inaugural edition.
Although Watson trained with the Royals in South Africa, he will be unavailable for the first-half of the IPL as the all-rounder will be on national duty for the Australia-Pakistan ODI series.
"I think Shane (Watson) misses the first nine games playing for Australia so he'll be available for the last five games and hopefully the finals,” said defending IPL-winning skipper Shane Warne adding, "He's not bowling at the moment but he's still a big loss.”
Talking about Tanvir, Warne said, “Tanvir was sensational last year, taking early wickets and bowling at the end."
Warne admitted that both Watson and Tanvir will be “big losses” as Rajasthan begin their campaign in a few days time.
In the meanwhile, the confident Warne has showered accolades on uncapped Indian pacer Kamran Khan saying, “He's a tiny little guy but he bowls 140 plus. He's very raw but he could be a bit of a bolter.”
Warne’s immediate challenge is to trim the squad down to 18 players from 27.
The other international players that Warne has at his disposal are England all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas; South Africa’s domestic Twenty20 specialist Tyron Henderson; Proteas speedster Morne Morkel; South African opener Graeme Smith and Australian fast bowler Shane Harwood.
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