May 30, 2008. Venue: The Wankhede Stadium. Event: First semifinal of the inaugural IPL between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Delhi Daredevils (DD). RR had just finished the warm-ups. Their captain Shane Warne walked towards Yusuf Pathan and without saying a word, looked deep into his eyes, placed a hand on his shoulders and just stood for a minute. Pathan, hypnotized, stared back. Despite playing blistering knocks consistently, Pathan had endured a couple of failures, especially against pace bowling. The Royals had lost the toss on a sticky Wankhede pitch and Daredevils had Glenn McGrath, Mohammad Asif and Farveez Maharoof to exploit conditions. Warne’s silent gesture suggested, “Yusuf, I’m backing you. Smash them.” Pathan went on to carve a 21-ball 45, with four sixes which included an audacious smear off McGrath over mid-wicket.
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