Wrote this for a website on June 2, 2008

A Fairy Tale

"Once upon a time a war was called between eight kingdoms. All the
kingdoms had to build their armies with very less time in their hands,
an army that could stand the test of put up by others with their
strength and the test of time with their endurance.
One of the kingdoms which lie in a desert had all odds in front of it
and was counted out by all means and by all people. They were
searching for a General when a senior man with golden hair
volunteered. Everybody doubted him, not his abilities but because he
had not entered the battle field for a long time now.

The people of the kingdom silently prayed for the success of this
brave man. He went about preparing his army for the battles ahead and
tried to find out the special abilities of his men.
When they first went into the battlefield, they were badly wounded but
the General still had faith in his men. He told them that to conquer
the opposition they first needed to conquer their own minds and have
the belief that they could do it. He assigned roles to all his men.
Some were told to attack while others were told to defend and still
others were told to keep changing what they did and befool the army on
the other side.

The men responded to their General's call and one could clearly see
the difference in the way they carried out themselves. They started
winning battles. They were wounded sometimes in between but the
General told them to retrospect and mend their mistakes and move on.
The battles went on and after some time two armies were left. One key
man in the army of the Desert Kingdom was badly wounded. He still
wanted to take the battle field but the General told him to rest
because they had a lot ahead of them in the future. The General told
his men that they must be calm and just do what they had been doing
till now and the result will be in their favor.

The men fought bravely. A trusted man of the General went on fighting
and wounding several on the opposite side just when his men seemed
down. He fought bravely and brought confidence back amongst his
people. But just when the other army was again getting an upper hand,
the General himself went ahead and gave a telling blow. Now the armies
were at the same state and just before sunset one of the enduring
brave soldiers gave another blow and the desert kingdom emerged
victorious. The people went on celebrating throughout the night. They
couldn't stop praising and thanking their army for the glory they had
brought to the kingdom. They now have adopted the General as the son
of their kingdom."

This was indeed a fairy tale ending and as the General Shane Keith
Warne said, "The script couldn't have been written any better". Team
Rajasthan Royals emerged victorious in the battle for the inaugural
Indian Premier League beating Chennai Super Kings in a cliffhanger
final. Smith's absence due to a torn hamstring was a setback but Yusuf
Pathan hit a half century and got some crucial wickets for the team.
In fact both of these efforts came when the chips were down for the
Royals. Things again seemed to be getting tough for Rajasthan but just
then Shane Warne hit a four and then with one required of the last
ball Sohail Tanveer kept his cool and hit the ball in the gap.

A good amount of credit is due to the team owners Emerging Media who
had faith in what they were doing and without a shadow of doubt in
their minds gave the reigns into the hands of Shane Warne.