Thursday, June 2, 2011

Thank you for the magic, Warnie! (Part 1)

Shane Warne is a living legend. Legends do the impossible and write and rewrite chapters of history. Shane Warne has done all of that and much more.

Shane Warne made a forgettable debut against India, a match where Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar tore his bowling apart. Warne’s only success was the wicket of Shastri, not before Shastri had hit a double hundred and Warne, in the bargin, had gone for 150. Not many, probably not even Warne himself, would have thought after that game that he would go on to be one of the greatest spinners of all time and end up with over 700 test and nearly 300 ODI wickets. Fitting enough, he played his last professional cricket match in India for the Rajasthan Royals and against his greatest nemesis and good pal, Sachin Tendulkar.

Warne’s journey has been an epic one; a journey with all its high’s and its fair share of lows. I pick some of my favourite moments that today are part of history and have made Shane Warne what he is today.

5. Shane Warne hits the winning runs: Warne, a great bowler, was also an able batsmen but probably not someone who could win a game with the bat on his own merit. RR had a terrible start to their opening game in IPL with a loss against Delhi Daredevils but then won against KXIP. They were looking down the dumps against the Deccan Chargers, after the Chargers hit 220-odd. Some superb and inspired batting at the top of the order got the Royals close, but they still needed 17 of the last Symonds over with all accomplished batsmen back in the hut. The dying hope was Captain Shane; who nailed it in three strikes! RR won, Warne was an unlikely hero with the bat. Trivial it may sound but this was the start for the ‘Road to Victory.’

4. World Cup Glories: Warne’s most memorable ODI performance would surely go down to his World Cup performances for which he won the Man of the Match (MoM) awards. In the 1996 Semi-Finals, West Indies look set to complete the final few formalities before they meet the Lankans in the Finals. McGrath bought in a glimmer of hope and Warne took a leap to wreak the West Indies taking 4 for 30-odd; Richie Richardson was left stranded and Australian won by a whisker of 5 runs. Warne followed up the performance in the 1999 World Cup Finals against Pakistan, when he once again took 4 for 30-odd to setup an easy win for the Aussies. Clearly, Warne was a man for the big stage. When his team needed him the most, he invariably got the job done. Today, this seems so evident in cricket Australia after both Warne and McGrath have hanged their boots.

The concluding part...with my top pick...can be viewed here.



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