Royals throw out Pinky

Brad Hodge carried it once for reporting late to the team bus. Kevin Cooper clutched it around for not wearing the right kind of swimwear. Pinky was a pink doll, which Shane Warne, the former Australia legspinner had brought with him during his time as captain and mentor at Rajasthan Royals. One of the numerous tricks out of Warne's book of eccentricities, Pinky was actually a punishment imposed on a Royals player for breaking a team rule/curfew or walking late to the team bus or making a mistake. Warne had imposed the ruling that the concerned player would be forced to carry the doll everywhere from the ground, to the dressing room, to the team bus, to the parties. But all that is in the past. "Pinky will not be seen this time around. Hopefully, Paddy [Upton, the coach] will come up with something more unique," Royals CEO Raghu Iyer was quoted as saying in Times of India.