• TOPICS
KATHMANDU, MARCH 7
Every sport produces legends who are loved, cherished, idolised and remembered by fans. These sportspersons have an aura that compels people to watch the sport.
Shane Warne the Spin Wizard, the legendary cricket player, passed away on Friday at the age of 52, and it was shocking news for the cricketing world.
It was not even a decade ago that I cherished watching him play the Big Bash league. Since Warne retired, I have not seen even a single Big Bash game.
What was so special about Shane Warne the Spin Wizard? With the ball in his hand, he wove magic.
Cricket is a batsman's game, and people love watching batsmen hit the ball to all corners of the ground. But Warne was different. Cricket fans loved watching him bowl.
When Warne arrived on the international scene, leg spin was almost a dying art in cricket.
But his arrival changed the context. He revolutionised the art of leg spin bowling. Such was his impact that many wannabe cricketers, thinking of becoming a fast bowler or batsman, started imitating him and started bowling leg spin.
He was majestic, and held a mystery and mastery on the art of leg spin bowling.
It was an exciting sight to watch him bowl. His short run up, his follow through, his appeal and his reactions on being hit for runs, everything attracted the attention of the cricket fans.
Not only the batsmen but even fans kept guessing about the turn he would generate on the next delivery. He flummoxed and bamboozled the best of the batsmen with his mastery on the art of leg spin bowling. Even if he was taken to cleaners by the batsmen, he would come on to bowl the next ball with the same passion and intensity.
His ball to dismiss Mike Gatting in the 1993 Ashes series has been rated as the ball of the century. It bamboozled the batsmen, the umpire and even the bowler.
No matter how many times you watch the replay of the ball Warne bowled to Mike Gatting, the reaction at the end of the replay was 'How is it possible?' The Australian cricket team of the 90's and through most part of the first decade of this millennium was invincible, and Warne was the champion, the rock star of this team. His sheer presence, his aura took him to a different level. With a ball in his hand, many a lost match was won.
His off-field antics never allowed him to become the captain of the Australian cricket team, and cricket experts and commentators have always pointed out that 'Shane Warne was the greatest cricket captain Australia never had.
His off-field antic aside, his skills, passion and presence drew people towards cricket.
He was a true legend of the game immortalised in the memory of cricket loving fans.
As someone has said, 'Legends don't die, they never do.
They simply exit the present, leaving behind a past for the future generation to follow. The legend of Shane Warne will live as long as the game of cricket is played.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 8, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.