Sourav Ganguly and Dav Whatmore at the Eden, on Friday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne termed it a 50-50 chance on whether he would be playing in the Indian Premier League next season. At the pre-match press conference, the Aussie legend said that at the age of 40, he isn’t very sure about returning next year.

The following are excerpts

His experience of being the captain-cum-coach of Rajasthan Royals

I have thoroughly enjoyed playing for the Royals being the captain and coach. We have won in the first year and would have qualified last year also had KKR not beaten us in the last round. I have made some great friends and had a great time. When you measure if we had a successful campaign or not, I think with the team we had, with so many youngsters and inexperienced players, it’s been a successful three years so far. The cricketers who are playing for the Rajasthan Royals have proved themselves. It makes me proud and makes me feel that we are doing a good job with the Royals in promoting young players. Indian cricket will reap benefits from this.

Whether he will be available for the next edition of IPL

As far as next year goes, I am not sure. I am 40 years and am 50-50 about playing next year. I don’t play active cricket throughout the year anymore. Even this time, it took me a couple of games to get into the groove. We don’t play cricket anymore… But since the first few games, I have bowled quite well and had figures of one for 20, one for 25, four for 25 (against Deccan Chargers). The nature of the game is such that all the fast bowlers are getting smashed. When you have a good game, people will say it’s great to see you back bowling at your best. But when you are whacked, the same people would say you are not good anymore. That’s just the nature of the game. I will weigh that up next year... But at the moment, I am 50-50.

The adjustments he had to make having not played T20 in his prime

I love the game of cricket. I am passionate about the game. Having played first-class cricket for 20 years, I have grown a fair understanding of the game (smiles). We can always try and learn new things. I try to pass on my knowledge to all the boys.

Chances of qualifying for the semis

After Chennai Super Kings’ loss against Delhi DareDevils last night, both teams (Royals and KKR) have an outside chance of qualifying. At the end of the day, we can’t rely on other results. We can rely on what we can control.

Battle of shrewd captains

I don’t really think it’s a battle between Sourav and me. It’s the battle between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals.

Chances of Yusuf Pathan opening

May be... We should keep something up our sleeve. He is a match winner. If one player who can change the course of the match, that could be Yusuf Pathan.

On stand-out performers in IPL

Our wicket-keeper Naman Ojha has performed really well. Also youngsters like Jhunjhunwala (Abhishek) and Fazal (Faiz) have done well at times. Overall among the Indian players, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina have been outstanding. Also, Murali Vijay has been great...