SHANE WARNE:KING OF SPIN

Rarely has the game of cricket seen a performer like Shane Warne.Perhaps one of the greatest bowlers that the game of cricket has ever seen,Shane Warne with his spin bowling changed the face of cricket viewed by the general public.Not only did he make leg spin a cult among his playing days but also constantly surprised people with his jaw dropping bowling,charisma & occasional wonders with the bat.

No leg spinner in the history of the game has been as good & lethal as a performer like Shane Warne has been.Although few leg spinners like Anil Kumble,Richie Benaud,B Chandrashekhar,Abdul Qadir & Jim Laker come close but none can match the level of performance that Shane Warne has set everytime he played for Australia.In the year 2000 he was among five crickters selected as the Wisden Crickteres of the century,a feat which cultivated his status to being an absolute legend.In a career spanning well over 15 years Shane Warne took over 1000 International wickets.Be it Test Matches or ODI'S the king of spin tormented batsman from all teams no matter how great the batsman was.In 145 test matches Warney captured a mammoth 708 test wickets @ bowling  average of 25.41 with 10-10wicket hauls & 37 times he captured 5 or more wicket in an innings with 8-71 being his best performance against against England in Brisbane.Richie Benaud had once famously said that Shane Warne is to bowling what Sachin Tendulkar is to batting.Shane Warne has enjoyed success against every team but against India he had to face a hard time as the Indian batsman were such good players of spin bowling.The Warne-Tendulkar duel or rivalry was fast catching up as one of the most exciting moments in cricket.The Master of batting vs The Wizard of Spin.After retiring from International Cricket, Warne was signed as the captian for The Rajasthan Royals in the inaugral Indian Premier League for a base price of 450,000$,little did people knew  that Warne would lead the Royals to victory in the very first edition of the IPL.Warne even after retirement from International Cricket, showed splendid moments of fine bowling in the IPL & astute leadership for which he was widely appreciated as he helped nurtured the young talent in the team.He also played in the Big Bash for the Melboune Stars.A true gentlemen that he was, he always publicly acknowledged great performers & their performances.He tormented batsman at his will his leg spin bowling,it was magical to see Warne bowling.What truly sealed Warne's position as an all time great bowler was his constant mind games with the batsman,winning matches on numerous accounts for Australia single handedly,the quality of leg spin was certainly legendary,it was hard to believe that someone could turn the cricket ball so much.The ball that Shane Warne bowled to Mike Gatting in the 1993 Ashes Series was termed as "Ball of the Century".Mike Gatting was considered to be one of the very few good players of spin bowling in the English cricket team at that time but Gatting was totally bamboozled by the delivery that Warne bowled at him.He was  the highest wicket taker in his very first series with 34 wickets in 6 test matches.The English have always bore the brunt of Warne's genuises with the cricket ball with the the legend capturing 195 wickets in 36 test matches against them.Warne toyed with batsman from teams like South Africa,Pakistan,New Zealand & Sri Lanka.Bowling in the rough, destroying top batsman at will & getting into their minds, Warne was a real class.In the ODI circuit too he was successful but didn't play long due to  failed drug test just before the 2003 world cup owing to which he later retired from one day cricket,still in 194 ODI Warne captured 293 wickets.He was also the highest wicket taker in the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup with 20 wickets & was also named man of the match in successive matches in the semi-finals against the Proteas & in the final against Pakistan where he completely destroyed the Pakistani batting with 4-33 in the finals.Shane Warne was also handy with the bat as he managed to score 3000+ test runs with 99 being his highest test score.The Magician that he was with his craft of leg spin bowling Shane Warne became widely considered as one the greatest players to ever play the game of cricket.

His career had few controversies like the Failed Dope Test before the 2003 world cup,accepting money from a bookie just before the match for providing pitch & weather information besides also his feuds with Arjuna Ranatunga,Steve Waugh & Adam Gilchrist.Very few batsman have dominated Warne,Sachin being an exception the only batsman who could play Shane Warne so well be it inside out or playing shots when the ball was balled in the rough to him.I believe he is not just the greatest bowler of all time but also for his stupendous performances over the years as one of the greatest cricketers of all time.It is widely believed that Shane Warne was the greatest captain Australia never had,he was a gambler he used to play poker & his mind could pull off genuises that only few could execute.Crowds loved Shane Warne some even coming to see a match just to see Warne bowl those majestic spell of spin bowling.He has won 17 man of the match awards in tests quite a rare feat for a leg spinner.On countless occassions, Shane Warne has done the impossible,bowled the odd ball & castled batsman around their legs many a times.He too, was a character on the cricket pitch always in the scheme of things besides being a great slip filder too.He was also a part of 92 test matches that the Aussies won with him in the team.Almost all of the cricketing greats including Brian Lara & Sachin Tendulkar have said that Warne is one of the greatest bowlers they have faced and is an all time great.A thorough legend that he is,it is his craft of leg spin bowling which truly made people,cricketing pundits & cricketers of his generation realise how great of a bowler Shane Warne is.