Shane Watson, aged 39 has retired from all forms of cricket after his IPL team Chennai Super Kings were eliminated from 2020 edition in UAE. Most key players of CSK ages 35-40 under whom there were many expectations, but they failed to deliver and qualify for the playoffs for the first time in their 11-year old IPL history.
Doubts were hovering around the future of some of their star performers, but some of them have cleared doubts already by announcing their intentions. Chennai captain MS Dhoni and Faf Du Plessis have made it clear that they will be featuring in IPL 2021, while Australian Shane Watson called it time on his illustrious 18-year career.
Shane Watson: Captain And Coach Had Trust Despite Non Performance In 2019
Discussing his 3-year old stint with CSK, Shane Watson said that one thing he found different with the franchise was trust shown in him by team’s captain MS Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming. In a conversation with presenter Rupha Ramani, Shane Watson said that despite failing time and again in 2019 season, he was not dropped from the playing XI. The Australian hailed the duo for putting their trust in him.
“That you go 10 games without scoring runs and still get picked (laughs). Last season, thank you MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming for keeping the faith. That was phenomenal and made me feel that good to go, a bit a block would not stop me,” he said.
Shane Watson revealed that he came to know about MS Dhoni’s impact on cricket and people of India after watching a documentary on him while travelling in a flight besides adding that MS Dhoni’s ability to simplify complex situations is a characteristic that stands out.
“Sitting on a plain and there is a TV screen in front of me showing documentary on MS. I remember watching his documentary and I did not know the extent of the impact he has on Indian cricket and especially Indian public in general. When he has his long hair and then he cut it off, around about that time. The thing that stands out to me, after getting to know him in the last 3 years is how easily he simplifies a complex situation,” Shane Watson said.
Shane Watson was awarded the Player of the Series in a number of tournaments, including the 2009 Champions Trophy, 2012 World T20, 2008 IPL and 2013 IPL. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-handed fast-medium swing bowler who played international cricket between 2002 and 2016 for Australia.
Shane Watson: Incredible To Be Part Of IPL Especially Chennai With Crowd Support
Fans of CSK have been hailed recently by the talismanic skipper MS Dhoni who said that fans of his team are “different” because they know their cricket. Shane Watson has also praised them now, saying it’s like a billion people live in Chennai because of stadiums being full with fans.
“It’s seems like there must be a billion people living in Chennai because there seems to be like billion CSK supporters. Even travelling in other parts of India was like half of the stadium was full of CSK fans, which is an incredible part to be part of. There are not many things where this happens at all.”
Shane Watson ended his IPL career with 3874 runs and 92 wickets. After starting his career with Rajasthan Royals, he won the inaugural edition of IPL with the team in 2008 which was Rajasthan’s only title. He had scored 472 runs and picked up 17 wickets in that season.
Shane Watson spent seven successful years with the Rajasthan Royals before moving to Royal Challengers Bangalore where he didn’t find a lot of success before being picked up by CSK. He smashed 117 runs off 57 balls to help CSK clinch their 3rd IPL title in 2018.
In a rather forgettable IPL 2019 outing, with both bat and ball, he hit a valiant 80 with a bloodied knee, but his effort went in vain as CSK lost the final to Mumbai Indians by a whisker of 1 run. IPL 2020 saw him being the 3rd highest run-scorer of CSK by virtue of scoring 299 runs in 11 matches with 2 fifties.