Sheikh of tweak

Shane Warne’s one of the larger-than-life figures most sports would crave for. And cricket was lucky to have him. In his autobiography ‘ No Spin ’, written with Mark Nicholas, Warne takes us through the journey of his life where he chose to extract the most of every moment. The first few chapters are devoted to his parents, his childhood and his upbringing. Then comes his adolescence and his crushing disappointment for not making it in the AFL.

He then decided to try his hand at cricket and that too a difficult art like leg spin. His test debut was eminently forgettable where he was smashed around the park by Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar. But behind that laid back ‘larrikin’ Aussie lay a tough competitor. Warne tells us how he decided to work hard on his craft and fitness with his mentor Terry Jenner, bowling for 4-5 hours a day and losing close to 20 kg.

Warne announced his arrival at the world stage with his first ever delivery in an Ashes series in the summer of 1993 in England. Not surprisingly ‘that Gatting delivery’ gets an entire chapter. Bob Simpson, his first coach at the test level, and Allan Border, his first captain, come in for a lot of praise. After that Ashes series Warne hit a purple patch and was firmly on the road to superstardom.

For the Indian fans there is an entire chapter on the 2001 Kolkata test where he went an entire day without taking a wicket thanks to the heroics of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. He blames his captain Steve Waugh for not enforcing a follow on. Waugh was also someone with whom Warne had a difficult relationship.

There are also riveting accounts of that great semi-final match of the 1999 World Cup against South Africa and the 2005 Ashes series where England wrested the Ashes after 18 years.

There is an entire section, with 14 short chapters, where Warne takes us through the fascinating art of leg spin. This section is invaluable for budding leg spinners.

Warne’s narration of his on-field battles, especially on the Ashes stage, is fascinating. He also surprisingly took to County cricket in a big way and there is an interesting section of his years with Hampshire and how he made them champions.

Warne and IPL were made for each, so how he mentored and captained the Rajasthan Royals and won them the championship trophy in IPL’s inaugural season gets an entire section in the book. The glitz and the glamour of IPL were right up Warne’s alley.

On the two most controversial issues in his career — the ‘bookie’ and the diuretic incident, and the subsequent one-year ban —Warne claims he was more naïve than anything else. Though this may divide opinion at least Warne doesn’t skirt around these issues in the book.

He’s also surprisingly honest about how his off-field ‘antics’, which were fodder for the tabloids, ended up affecting his personal life and his wife and children. Warne seems genuinely apologetic and regretful of that. He also talks about warmly of his relationship with Elizabeth Hurley and wistfully hopes that they might get back together one day.

The only minor peeve is Warne’s referring to his team mates by their nick names. Half way through it gets tedious distinguishing between Pidge, Binga, Punter and Tugga.

It’s not every day that you get a cricketer who could bowl leg spin like a dream, romance Liz Hurley and share the stage with Chris Martin. Our generation was lucky to have him.

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