Rajasthan to toast 'First Royal' Warne in IPL title tilt

The Rajasthan Royals are desperate to "do something special" for franchise legend Shane Warne after making their first Indian Premier League final since the late spin king led them to the tournament's maiden crown 14 years ago.

Star batter Jos Buttler paid tribute to Warne, the Royals' inaugural captain-coach who passed away in March, after slamming his fourth century of the IPL season to set-up a decider against IPL newbies Gujarat Titans.

"He is such an influential figure for the Rajasthan Royals and having led the team to success in that first season, we will miss him dearly, but we know he is looking down on us with a lot of pride today," Buttler said after his unbeaten 60-ball 106 downed Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday.

"He made us believe."

Image Id: 3AC6BD3C650A45B0823A174F2141C3B2 Image Caption: 'The tournament, right from the start, it has been for him' // BCCI/IPL

The decider will draw an enormous crowd at the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday evening (Monday morning, 12.30am AEST).

Rajasthan paid an emotional tribute to the man known as the 'First Royal' earlier in the IPL season, donning shirts with 'SW23' on their collars and decorating the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai with Warne murals for their match against Mumbai Indians last month.

Warne had led the Royals to an improbable title in the first season of the IPL at that venue in 2008.

"The tournament, right from the start, it has been for him and I think we need to take one more step for him," current Rajasthan captain Sanju Sampson said.

"It's really special. I don't want to talk too much about it but we’re one step closer. We want to do something special for him."

Rajasthan's tilt at the inaugural IPL title had seemed improbable from the beginning.

The club spent the least on their squad of any of the eight franchises and suffered a chastening nine-wicket defeat to Delhi in their debut match.

But, under the unconventional leadership of an ageing Warne and thanks to a player-of-the-tournament campaign from fellow Aussie Shane Watson, Rajasthan went on to win 11 of their 13 matches to qualify for the final.

Their opponents were the Chennai Super Kings led by MS Dhoni, a national hero having led India to a maiden world T20 title the previous year who had been purchased for triple the price of 38-year-old Warne at the auction.

Rajasthan's underdog status was further underlined when Royals' star South African opener Graeme Smith was ruled out of the decider with a hamstring injury.

Yet after keeping Chennai to 5-163, the Royals prevailed in a last-ball thriller as Sohail Tanvir struck the winning run with Warne at the non-striker's end.

"As soon as Tanvir hit the ball I was ready to tear my hamstrings running for the single," said Warne.

With four centuries for the ongoing season, Buttler now shapes as Rajasthan's key man in their bid for a second IPL title.

Remarkably, the Englishman admitted he had felt under the pump coming into the tournament's business end despite having already struck three hundreds in the tournament.

He had been dismissed for single figures in his three innings leading into the playoffs before exploding for a 56-ball 89 against Gujarat in a qualifier earlier this week, which his side lost but nonetheless got a second chance.

"I was actually feeling a bit of pressure," Buttler said. "I was getting distracted, and I tried to suppress it, but it wasn't until a week or so when I actually opened up and started talking about that and it made me feel a lot better.

"I went to Kolkata (for the qualifier against Gujarat) a lot more relaxed and obviously that innings gave me a lot more confidence today."

Royals' director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara suggested that he "can't remember anyone batting this well in the history of the IPL."

"It's hard to describe what he has done for us this season," Sangakkara said of Buttler.

"I think he started off so well, had a little bit of a flutter at one point in the tournament, but he calmed himself down, had good conversations rather than just training. He accepted he's mortal, he's human and he can't have that high level of excellence every single day.

"He can accelerate at any point, has all the strokes and understands the game really well."

The 2022 Indian Premier League will be broadcast live in Australia on Fox Sports and live streamed on Kayo

Australians in IPL 2022

Delhi Capitals: Mitchell Marsh, David Warner

Gujarat Titans: Matthew Wade

Kolkata Knight Riders: Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch

Lucknow Super Giants: Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye

Mumbai Indians: Tim David, Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith

Punjab Kings: Nathan Ellis

Rajasthan Royals: Nathan Coulter-Nile

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazlewood, Jason Behrendorff

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Sean Abbott