Which happened days after IPL season?

In his autobiography No Spin, Warne, without identifying the player, writes about him putting his foot down over Badale’s demand/request of making that one change to the squad of 16. The prickly conversation between the two decision-makers had taken place after Warne, along with coaches and senior players, had pruned the list of 50 players.

At the 10-day long team trials, the Aussie great had been impressed by Indian uncapped players like Ravindra Jadeja and Swapnil Asnodkar but the player, who he refers to as Asif, wasn’t up to the mark. Badale, based on statistics, pressed for Asif’s inclusion and that’s when Warne gave the ultimatum. His argument was simple, he had been fair in assessing the players at the trial and by including a lesser player he would lose the respect of the dressing room.

“If I put Asif in that group, they’ll know he’s not good enough and that he’s there because of some hidden favouritism. At that point, I’ll lose them. So if you want Asif in the squad, that’s fine, but I’ll give you your money back – I don’t want to be part of it.’ ‘Are you serious?’ asked Manoj (Badale). ‘I’m deadly serious,’ I said. ‘Let me sleep on it.’.”The next day the RR owner came up with a compromise formula. Badale was fine with Asif not being included in the squad of 16 but he wanted the player to be in the dugout wearing the team shirt. No, not on Warne’s watch. “‘No, the area is too small for all of us as it is, and, anyway, I don’t want him just sitting there, because again it looks like we’re doing him a favour. So no.’ ‘Okay,’ said Manoj.” The matter was closed, Warne got the team he wanted and the owner-captain earned each other’s respect.

It was this fairness that kept the team together all through the season, it made the likes of Jadeja give their best. They knew that Warne ran his team on meritocracy.
But things weren’t always smooth. The world knows that Warne called Jadeja the team’s ‘rockstar’ but the blue-eyed boy did get pulled up when he lost focus, or was late to the team bus.

“Ravi Jadeja was always late. First time, there was a bit of confusion with bags and stuff, so I let it slide. Second time, no good – the bus left at 9 am for training and he wasn’t on it, so he had to make his own way to the ground and, of course, was late again. On the way back after training, I stopped the bus halfway to the hotel and said, ‘Guys, we had someone late again this morning. Ravi, mate, get off here and walk home.’ One of his mates made a fuss, so I told him to get off too and they could walk back to the hotel together. No-one was late after that.”