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Shane Warne - The
Magic Crusader |
A Tribute to Shane
Warne on taking 533 wickets by Karthik Narayan
 In
India, we spin a TOP with a string. But one man
spins a red cherry like a top unlike no peer,
with the mere power of his wrists! And when that
ball spins thus, the revolutions that it sends
to the heads of the batsman facing is truly a
spectacle to watch!
What has started with Ravi Shastri has continued
to the expansive drive of Irfan Pathan, (which
was incidentally the World Record chased for the
second time by the same bowler, in the space of
one year) and looks rather good to continue and
has in fact continued to the next few more
wickets.
Oct 15, 2004 will be marked in the calendar of
this great spinner, perhaps the greatest leg
spinner of our times and all other times to
come. That was the day when this bowler overcame
“Indian Conditions” and the “Indian Batsmen” to
knock over the record held by Murali for a few
months.
And as Hayden happily caught the edge from Irfan
Pathan’s bat at first slip, Warne’s joy knew no
bounds as he conquered the home team and went on
to take that elusive wicket that puts him on top
of everyone else on the bowlers all time wicket
takers lists. The ongoing tussle for the world’s
leading bowler has just begun, with both Murali
and Shane Warne playing active cricket; Murali
has not played since August, but will return
soon to test cricket. Each bowler is great in
his own regard. Murali has played lesser tests
to get to the Wicket Number 532, just 91 tests
to Warne’s 114. The road to getting to this
world record has been very patient and long,
with some unwinding and winding up at various
places. Finally the Spin King has arrived with
his bag of tricks to the Land which he dreads,
the land where the spinners blossom. Not so
quite for this great bowler, at least not until
now.
 His debut test came
against those “meddling Indians” at the Sydney
Test, the third of that series when India went
Down Under. That was something to really forget
for Warne, with almost all Indian batsmen going
after him and he finished with figures of 1 for
150, perhaps the worst start he would have never
dreamt of. That wasn’t quite the way to start
the New Year, was it, way back in Jan 1992.
After getting massacred by Ravi Shastri, the
consolation came for Warne when he picked up his
wicket after a masterly double hundred. But
then, he has overcome those turbulent times, a
few summers and New Years have come and gone,
and lots of magic weaved, and the beautiful
baskets of Spin have been spun over a few
batsman.
Warne’s first hundred wickets came in his 23rd
test; a steady flow at 19 tests for the 200th
wicket. He had a lean patch getting to 250
wickets, but ever since 250, he did not look
back, 21 tests to get to 300 from 200; sadly for
this great spinner the next fifty was dragging
17 tests! 12 more for the 400 mark, so by the
time he reached the 400 mark, it was 92 tests.
Then Warne crept up fast faster, back from the
injuries, and 9 tests to get to that mark of
450. One long year he had to wait to get back
into cricket again with the raging controversy
of doping. Others would have been gone long time
back, not this Steely Gritted Man - Shane Keith
Warne.
The next six tests have been a comeback for all
the money in the world, for all those watching
this game and following this game of bat versus
ball right over these long yet wonderful years,
this is a treat!
Warne vs. Murali
|
|
Shane
Warne |
Muralitharan |
|
Tests |
114 |
91 |
|
Wickets |
537 |
532 |
|
Average |
25.64 |
22.86 |
|
5 WI |
27 |
44 |
|
10 WM |
8 |
13 |
 On the face of it, Murali
may have been the youngest and fastest in terms
of tests to the 500 wicket mark in tests but
figures may show that there is nothing much to
choose between Warne and the wily off Spinner
from Kandy. Both have hurled down nearly similar
number of overs in tests they have bowled,
though Murali has played in lesser tests, he has
bowled almost the same number of overs. And
there’s so much similarity as regards the strike
rate, almost every 10 overs bowled, both get
their wickets on the average. The major
difference comes when one takes the concept of
playing conditions. Warne has played more tests
at home compared to Murali, but its too lopsided
for Murali, he has been more successful in the
matches played within the sub-continent rather
than outside! And most of the wins have come at
home for Sri Lanka, he does have a great rate of
taking an average of 5 wickets every test, but
that’s doesn’t really suit the team’ cause, the
others let him down.
Ultimately to conclude
this comparison of the bests, I would say Murali
does a One Bowler show for Sri Lanka, whereas
Warne is just one of the superstars for
Australia, there is McGrath, Gillespie, and
Brett Lee who torment the batsmen and keep
tugging away at the wickets column every now and
then. Probably that’s why Warne has had to wait
for more number of tests to get to the World
Record!
If one goes to watch Warne’s bowling videos,
there’s nothing to miss. Every ball is his best
performance by itself… every minute, something
happens; a flipper, a missed catch, or something
caught (most often caught), an LBW appeal,
batsman unable to read a ball. The agony just
stacks up for the batsman. And when he gets you
hypnotized with his magic, he never lets you go;
he keeps pulling at the batsman, inviting the
drive, cascading the balls one after another at
various speeds and angles, and the revolutions
per minute are evolved with a clear intention to
keep all of us watching. The slip fielders and
the keeper’s gloves gloved with glee totally
involved and interested.
Bombshells are meant to be dropped on
adversaries at the right time and this Blond
Bombshell-man knows that very well. Take a
breather as I say… 28 five wicket hauls and
8-ten wicket hauls, and simply because it is
quite staggering. And staggering is a complete
understatement, as he mesmerizes the batsman
totally. Ashes always speaks about Warne, he
started his first Ashes Test with the Ball of
the Century in England in 1993, and Glory
followed Warne ever since.
His record in India has not been as much as a
typical Warne fan would like, let alone Shane
Warne himself. The first time he played, Sachin
Ramesh Tendulkar was ready to take him on along
with Navjot Singh Sidhu who had clobbered him in
almost every match of the series. Warne ended up
getting creamed, taking the brunt of the
aggression. The next time he came back there in
2001, already with a tarnished and humble
record, nothing much clicked for him, as Laxman
and Dravid played him with as much ease as
eating a banana.This time around, this may very
well be his last series in India; he is here
with a mission. A mission to show all the whole
wide world why at all he has been crowned the
worlds greatest spinner.
He has already proved his mettle with his First
Five Wicket haul in India, and his personal best
bowling ever on this Soil of the Greatest
Bowlers of Spin! And with the record at the TOP
of the world will most certainly not go to his
Head! Now it is time to pile up the wickets
while he is ahead of Murali. That is going to be
exciting as the world record will change hands
over minutes with every passing cricketing test!
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