Shane Warne was the flag-bearer of spin bowling: R Ashwin

“I see Warne as a flag-bearer for carrying the spin aspect of bowling on the front in the world cricketing map. The top three wicket-takers in the world are spinners in Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel

Still in disbelief by Shane Warne’s death, India off-spinner Ravichandran hailed the late Australian legend for redefining bowling and bringing spin as an attacking commodity in world cricket.

Warne, a spin wizard who made the world fall in love with his craft, died of natural causes at the age of 52 in Thailand on Friday, leaving the world shell-shocked. 

“I see Warne as a flag-bearer for carrying the spin aspect of bowling on the front in the world cricketing map. The top three wicket-takers in the world are spinners in Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

“He was an interesting character. So many Australian legends had so many nice things to say about him. I still can’t accept the fact that life is so fickle. We cannot predict what can happen.”

Warne, regarded as the greatest spinner of all time, picked up 708 wickets with his leg-spin for Australia in 145 Tests. In his 194 ODI appearances, he snared 293 scalps.

“Warne was a colourful character, he redefined bowling, he has taken more than 1,000 international wickets, not many can achieve this rare feat.”

Warne had bowled the ball of the century deceiving Mike Gatting at Old Trafford with a delivery that landed on the leg stump and, as the Englishman tried to defend, turned viciously to clip his off bail.

However, that isn’t Ashwin’s favourite Warne delivery.

“Warne brought spin as an attacking commodity to this cricketing world. Everyone will talk about Warne’s delivery to Gatting, but my favourite is Warne’s delivery to Andrew Strauss in 2005 Ashes,” Ashwin said.

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