Legendary Indian cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar expressed his shock after the unexpected demise of the Australian spin great Shane Warne. Gavaskar lavished praise on Warne’s contribution to cricket, however, said that the Australian was not the greatest spinner of all time. Speaking on a show on India Today, the Indian batting great said that “Indian spinners and Muttiah Muralitharan were certainly better than Warne”.
The Australian spinner took his last breathe at the age of 52 on Friday due to a suspected heart attack in Koh Samui, Thailand. Shane Warne took 708 Test wickets and another 293 in ODIs, but Gavaskar said that in his opinion, Sri Lankan spin ace Muralitharan was a “rank over him”.
During a chat with India Today, Sunil Gavaskar said, “For me, the Indian spinners and Muttiah Muralitharan were certainly better than Warne. Because look at Warne’s record against India. It was pretty ordinary against India. 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.
He further added “I think Muttiah Muralitharan with the success that he had against India would rank over him in my book. 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.”
The timing of Gavaskar’s comments and his remark on Australia legend’s lifestyle upset some of Warne’s fans on social media. Here is how some of the fans on Twitter reacted to the comments of Sunil Gavaskar:
Sunil Gavaskar on national television talking about Warne's poor bowling record in India and also insinuating that his heart couldn't keep up with his lifestyle.
How is it possible to be so bereft of class and basic humanness?
— Shubi Arun (@loudspeaker19) March 4, 2022
Shameful interview Sunil Gavaskar and Rajdeep Sardesai. While Sunil G showed utter disrespect towards a great who has just passed away, Rajdeep smiled and grinned throughout
— Kshitij Gupta (@kgbasic) March 4, 2022
Gavaskar needs to be banned from attending interviews and all!
That comment on Warne was so disgusting! Really felt bad
— Pandemic Pep (@afc_anubhav) March 5, 2022
Dear Sunil Gavaskar sir,
Late Shane Warne had Glen McGrath, Damien Fleming, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee with more than 1000 test wickets in his team and yet he had 708 test wickets.if you are saying he is not the best spinner ever played then you are smoking something really bad.
— siddharth barjatya (@sidbarjatya) March 5, 2022
Randeep it’s time you stop inviting the great Sunil Gavaskar to your show. The man is a disgrace. No one puts down a man the way he did, in the day he died, in this case, the great Shane Warne. Gavaskar was a complete failure against Dennis Lillee in the one series he played him
— Marvin Rodrigues (@MarvinRodrigues) March 4, 2022
Shane Warne’s death followed that of fellow Australian great, wicketkeeper Rod Marsh, at the age of 74.
Talking about he demise of two Asutralian greats Sunil Gavaskar said, “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.”
He concluded, “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. Finger spin is a lot easier, you have more control over what you want to bowl but leg spin or wrist spin is very tough. For him to have bowled the way he did, the way he seemed to create magic…at will was the reason he was revered all over the cricketing world.”
