Warne awaits big pay day

MELBOURNE: Shane Warne was given a miniscule stake in IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals during the league’s inaugural edition in 2008, a deal that could potentially find the legendary spinner laughing his way to the bank in the coming days.

According to the ‘Herald Sun’, Warne was paid $657,000 and given an ownership of 0.75 percent for every year he played after coming out of retirement in 2008. “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 Australia’s ‘Herald Sun’.

Warne, who has also been a coach-cum-mentor and then Brand Ambassador of the Royals, led an unheralded bunch of players to an unlikely triumph during the inaugural edition of IPL back in 2008.

In fact, current India star Ravindra Jadeja was a talented uncapped player back then, whom Warne had backed to the hilt terming him a “rockstar”.

“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.

Rajasthan Royals franchise is currently worth $200 million and Warne according to the report, believes that the valuation will be doubled in next couple of years.

“Three per cent of $400 million is all right,” said Warne, which effectively means that he could earn up to $12 million.