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Melbourne: Despite being four months shy of his 39th birthday, Shane Warne has turned the Indian Premier League on its head.
Warne's mentor Ian Chappell was quoted as saying in the Herald Sun that Warne's IPL success proved he could have been a great Australian captain.
"Larrikins make good captains because they are risk-takers," Chappell said.
"If he had been appointed captain following Mark Taylor's retirement, I doubt he would have got into so much hot water that it ensured he would never captain Australia again."
Australia did not appoint him Test captain as they felt he could not be trusted to behave.
Not making Warne Australian captain was the right move, but you can't help admiring the feats of an old star who is shining in the trials of India's new league when he could be sitting contentedly in Melbourne.
Warne is the only non-Indian captain in the IPL and the challenges confronting him were huge, with most players homegrown Indians, many of them raw youngsters with limited communication skills.
Warne has submerged himself in Indian culture in a way he never did when he made three Test tours as a player. Famous for once sending out for a pizza in a famous Mumbai restaurant, he now tolerates the food, and once finding the Hindi language incomprehensible, the Australian is now trying to learn it.
Warne failed to attract a bid over his reserve price at the player auction and was bought by the cheapest franchise, the Rajasthan Royals.
At a time when he could have been excused for taking the cash and letting others get their hands dirty, Warne not only went there as captain, but signed on as coach.
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