Reports: Shane Warne to take over as Rajasthan Royals head coach

The eleventh season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) saw the Rajasthan Royals (RR) franchise making its comeback after two years along with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Both the teams made it to the playoffs straight away but unlike CSK, the Royals were crashed out of the tournament in the eliminator. Shane Warne worked as the mentor of the team during the last season and now he is likely to take over as the head coach of the team next year.

According to the reports in Bangalore Mirror, the franchise wants the former Australian legend to work as the coach of the team led by Ajinkya Rahane. Though nothing is confirmed yet, the possibility can’t be denied as he made a lot of impact on the players earlier this year. He was not even signed for the whole season as the mentor and the franchise would be keen to make use of his services in order to win the title next year.

Team’s performance

The franchise was dealt with a major blow after Steve Smith was ruled out of the tournament at the eleventh hour due to his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal. They appointed Ajinkya Rahane as the skipper then and he led the team admirably well. Moreover, the form of their opener Jos Buttler was scintillating and won them the matches on his own more often than not.

Also, Warne’s influence was extremely positive on the team as one of their all-rounders Krishnappa Gowtham recently credited him for his rise. To add to it, the franchise had requested him to stay for one more game after the team sensationally qualified for the playoffs by defeating the much famous Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) side in the must-win game.

It will be interesting to see if he will able to replicate his magic after taking over as the head coach’s position on a full-time basis next year.

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