Shane
Watson ended his IPL career as one of the finest overseas players to feature in
the league. He ranks 15 th on the batting charts with 3874 runs at an
average of 30.99 and bagged 92 wickets. Watson
was a part of the IPL 2008 champion Rajasthan Royals team as well and tasted
another title victory in 2018 with Chennai Super Kings.
However,
the former Australian batter reckoned that he still regrets the opportunity to deliver
with the ball in the IPL 2016 final for Royal Challengers Bangalore against
Sunrisers Hyderabad. Although the 41-year-old was the star with the ball to take
20 wickets in the season, he could score only 179 runs.
Watson
thinks he could not execute his strategies well to contain runs in the final,
despite being well prepared. He gave away 61 runs off his quota of four overs,
which resulted in the Sunrisers posting 208 on the board. Then, the prolific
batter could only score 11 off 9, and RCB lost the game by eight runs.
“And the
caveat is, the 2016 IPL final that I played for Royal Challengers Bangalore was
probably one of the worst games that I ever had, especially from a bowling
point of view. I went for 61 off my four overs, and even though I was very well
prepared, there were a couple of things that meant I just wasn't executing my
skills, and I got exposed in a big way.”
Watson produced
his best performance in the IPL 2018 with 555 runs in 15 games at an average of
39.64 to help CSK lift the trophy. He last featured in the cash-rich T20
tournament in 2020.