MUMBAI: Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar faced the ire of cricket fans after claiming he does not think Australian great Shane Warne was the greatest spinner of all time.
Speaking on a show on an Indian TV channel, Gavaskar said Warne’s death at the age of 52 due to a suspected heart attack had left him speechless. Warne’s death followed that of fellow Australian great, wicketkeeper Rod Marsh, at the age of 74.
“Within the space of 24 hours the cricket world has lost two giants of the game, not just Australian cricket but the cricket world. Rodney Marsh and then Shane Warne. This is unbelievable. Hard to come to grips with,” Gavaskar said.
“Warne mastered a craft which is so difficult… wrist spin. To pick 700-plus wickets like he did in test cricket, hundreds more in one-day cricket tells you how good a bowler he was.”
Gavaskar said he did not consider Warne as the greatest spinner of all time. Warne took 708 test wickets to sit behind Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800) in the overall list as the greatest spinner of all time. “For me, the Indian spinners and Muralitharan were certainly better than Warne. Because look at Warne’s record against India. It was pretty ordinary against India,” Gavaskar said.
“Because he didn’t have much success against Indian players, who are very good players of spin bowling, I don’t think I would call him the greatest. Muralitharan with the success that he had against India would rank over him in my book.”
The simple reason for Gavaskar’s beliefs was that Warne did not have the same success against India as other Test playing nations. “Look at Shane Warne’s record against India,” Gavaskar said. “It was pretty ordinary.”
“In India, he got five wickets only once in Nagpur, and that too because Zaheer Khan swung wildly against him to give him a fifer. Because he did not have much success against Indian players who were very good players of spin, I don’t think I would call him the greatest.”
“Muttiah Muralitharan with a greater success he had against India, I would rank him over Warne in my book.” The timing of Gavaskar’s comments upset some of Warne’s legion of Indian fans, particularly his suggestion that the Australian’s lifestyle had contributed to his early death.
“He was always looking to live life fully, king-size as they call it and he did that and maybe because he lived life in such a manner is perhaps the reason why his heart couldn’t take it and he passed away so soon,” Gavaskar said.
