Shane Warne Retires from IPL: Unforgettable Moments of His IPL Career

Shane Warne recently announced that this will be his last year as a professional cricketer for Rajasthan Royals. Warne is regarded as a great captain, yet ironically, Australia never used his service as a captain.

As he was successful with his the national side, the same level of competitiveness one could see while he played for Rajasthan Royals.

Rajasthan Royals challenge in this year's IPL is certainly over, with only two matches remaining, and the team has only 11 points.

In his four years as a captain and coach of Rajasthan Royals, he and his team surprised everybody in becoming champions of the first edition of IPL.

The IPL’s primary point is to nurture local talent and bring to the forefront young Indian players. Shane Warne has been instrumental in bringing forth and providing a helping hand to many young Indian players. Remember Swapnil Asnodkar’s performance in the inaugural edition, and the latest Ashok Menaria?

Shane Warne's career always has been surrounded by controversies; his IPL career was no different.

So let's revisit some of the unforgettable moments in his IPL career. 

In the first ever auction in cricket history, Shane Warne, though retired from international cricket, was bought at a massive price of USD 450,000.

Warney got the highest that any other retired player could get at the auctions. 

But still very far from the highest, which Mahendra Singh Dhoni got with USD 1,500,000.

Shoaib Akhtar, who was considered as the fastest bowler got USD 425,000.

Not only with his bowling, he created magic with the bat as well. 

The match between Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers is one of the best matches of IPL 2008, courtesy Shane Warne.

Ravindra Jadeja just got out and Shane Warne walks in and blasts his way to make 17 of the last over of Andrew Symonds. 

Adjoining the video is the last over of the match. The last over was so exciting in every sense, save for the lackadaisical commentary by Ranjit Fernando.

Defying every other "experts" commentary on Rajasthan Royals, Shane Warne's team stormed their way to the semifinals, topping the points table. 

The team, which looked like underdogs before the tournament begun, became champions and lifted the inaugural IPL trophy. 

One thing is certain, no one can ever steal his honor of becoming the IPL champions the first time around. 

At first, everybody thought Shane Warne would make a difference, but not as far to win the tournament.

Shane Warne was the second highest wicket-taker, just three less from his teammate Sohail Tanveer, who got the Purple cap. 

The video in this slide sums up all the magic moments of Shane Warne in 2008.

The best moment of the adjoining video is at 3.10 seconds: look how clueless Dhoni is; first he misses one completely, then nicks one to the first slip.

IPL 2009 was a mixed-bag for Rajasthan Royals and for Shane Warne.

The team finished sixth in the points table, but put up a good contest by pulling some matches out of the opposition's teeth.

Shane Warne got a good 14 wickets in the tournament. 

The 2010 IPL was one which every Rajasthan Royals fan would like to forget.

The team finished seventh, while Warney was busy at the IPL parties.

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It all started from the former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi's favorite way of getting in to controversies: tweeting.

"A little birdie just whispered that the big game in Jaipur has been moved to a side wicket on the square. Why? Ask RCA official and CSK," he tweeted.

The tweet by Lalit Modi suggested of a possible pitch change after Sachin Tendulkar termed it as "two-paced and difficult." Modi accused BCCI secretary and CSK owner N. Srinivasan's hand of being in it.

Warne then tweeted after the match: "First time in four years we got told what wicket to play on. Strange?" 

Before all this took place, Rajasthan Cricket Association secretary Sanjay Dixit called Mumbai Indians "sore losers" for the alleged remarks on the Sawai Man Singh stadium pitch.

The heavy loss of nine wickets to Royal Challengers Bangalore saw Warne calling Dixit a "liar" and "egoistic" after the match presentation, followed by complaints by Dixit to BCCI and IPL committee.  

Nevertheless, Shane Warne has tendered an apology through their team's chief executive Sean Morris; possibly to prolong his career as a coach with Rajasthan Royals. 

Shane Warne started his IPL career in flying colors, but the end was not as expected. 

He started the tournament on a positive note and slipping in between cost the team heavily.

Amidst all the controversies in the last leg of his IPL career, the farewell that the spin legend is getting is very sad.

To his fans dismay, the IPL's disciplinary commission imposed a USD 50,000 fine on Warne for the alleged remarks on Sanjay Dixit.

The good news is that at least he will play the last match against Mumbai Indians on 20th May, 2011.

Waiting for his last 4 overs.