Shane Warne: Watching Warnie bowl was like watching different persons rolled into one

Watching Shane Warne bowl was like watching different persons rolled into one. He was now a painter creating a piece with myriad hues and now a hunter snaring a prey. He was now a poet immersing himself in his craft, and now an actor adept at hiding his deepest emotions. And, just occasionally, he was the naughty lad, indulging in pranks that did not find approval.

With the cricket ball in his hand, Warne invoked magic, challenged batsmen to be not drawn by that and wooed the lovers of magic to watch him cast spells. And, like so many others of my generation, I was lucky to have watched him create and pursue his pure art, even if it sometimes did not work as well as he would have liked.

We did not get to watch Australian legends Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O’Reilly’s bowling but were privileged to watch Warne. There was strength, energy and an extra bit of devil that he packed with each delivery. Even when he did not succeed, he wore an air of positivity and raised expectations in his team, not letting the opposition gauge the thoughts crossing his mind.

The first I watched him bowl was in 1994 in the Singer World Series at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Warne had already bowled the 'Ball of Century' to leave Mike Gatting scratching his head. His aura was as powerful as Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, who stole the thunder that night with the first of his 49 One-Day International centuries.

It was not the last time that he was conceding ground to Tendulkar. But the best I watched Warne was in 1999 World Cup in England. You could have guessed that he would tie the South Africans down with his magic in that dramatic semi-final in Edgbaston, but you could not imagine that he would bamboozle the Pakistan batsmen as well in the final at Lord’s.

At the start of the defence of a small total in the semi-finals, Warne exhorted his team-mates to turn in a big performance on the field. The greatest leg-spinner bowled Herschelle Gibbs with a massive leg break. Before long, he dismissed Gary Kirsten and skipper Hansie Cronje to breathe life into the Australian challenge.

Warne returned at a crucial stage to see the back of the dangerous Jacques Kallis. South Africa needed 38 runs off 31 deliveries and with Klusener, Shaun Pollock and Mark Boucher in the reserve, seemed to have their nose ahead. But Warne had done enough in his 10 overs to infuse doubt in the minds of the Proteas and greater sense of belief among his own team-mates.

Warne’s four wickets in the final against Pakistan reduced it to a no-contest. Of course, McGrath and Damien Fleming had pushed Pakistan on the backfoot with early strikes, but it was Warne’s control of the middle-overs that broke the back of Wasim Akram’s team. He bewitched Ijaz Ahmed into playing back to be castled and got Moin Khan edging a catch.

Curiously, he was wicketless in the two games I watched him bowl in the 1996 World Cup. With Tendulkar blazing away at one end, Warne finished with one for 28 in his 10 overs, no mean contribution, though Fleming’s five-for cooked India’s goose in that game in Mumbai. The none for 58 against Sri Lanka in the final in Lahore hurt him and Australia big time.

It was when he bowled in the Tests that I saw his full repertoire. Like a poet picking his words to reflect emotions with deliberate thought, he tried to set up a wicket with each delivery. He started well on appearance in Tests on India with the wickets of Tendulkar, skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and Rahul Dravid in Chennai in 1998 but not much success followed.

Similarly, he began that memorable series in 2001 with a four-wicket haul to star in Australia’s big win in Mumbai. The series ended is a miserable fashion for him as India scraped hard to post a two-wicket win in the final Test in Chennai to claim the series 2-1. VVS Laxman denied Warne the opportunity to taste blood, his attacking 66 at one-drop setting up a dramatic win.

Warne did not let very many know that he had a sore shoulder in 1998 and a raw finger in 2001. The idea of offering excuses did not appeal to him. The Indians batted him out of the game on their turf. But he was not giving up so easily and he made his farewell tour of India in 2004 a memorable one by claiming 14 wickets, including a five-for in Chennai.

It was during that 42.3-over effort that he surpassed Muttiah Muralitharan as the world’s leading wicket-taker. He had bowled at his best to claim six for 125 in India’s first innings when Sehwag’s 155 and the century stand between Mohammed Kaif and Parthiv Patel saved the day for India.

Warne would have loved to have a go at the Indian batsmen in the second innings of the Chennai Test but torrential rain on the fourth evening ripped away any chances of an engrossing climax. The romantics would have loved the two sides battling it out to the finish but all thoughts of a Warne & Co vs the Indian batting were left in the realms of imagination.

Later, on a green-top at Nagpur’s VCA Stadium, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz dominated India. Yet, Warne managed to pick up the wickets of Laxman in the first innings and Sehwag in the second to leave his imprint on the game. Of course, he claimed a wicket with his final delivery on Indian soil in Australian colours.

My mind goes back to the late 1990s when I headed the sports team in a national daily. One of the photographs pinned on the softboard was that of Warne. It was a black and white frame that captured a mesmerising exhortation. Warne had just turned towards the umpire, gone down on a knee, raised the index finger of the right hand aloft and launched a full-throated appeal.

The charisma of the man was such that even though he was not the most successful in India, connoisseurs and fans alike would show up to watch his contests with the home batsmen. Warne, him of the many personalities rolled in one, may never hear us say again, but it is worth uttering it aloud: “Well bowled, Shane. Thank you for the magic.”

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