Shane Warne didn’t have Muralitharan’s variety, states Mahela Jayawardene

Shane Warne didn’t have Muralitharan’s variety, states Mahela Jayawardene

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Jayawardene believes Muralitharan and Warne's numbers won't be touched

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Mahela Jayawardene has stated that, according to him, the reason why Muttiah Muralitharan had an edge over Shane Warne is because the former had more variation that his Aussie counterpart. The Australian and the Sri Lankan legends are considered as the two best spinners in the sport's history.

Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan’s rise in the 1990s marked the resurgence of spin after a phase, in cricket, when it was all pace-dominated. The two legendary cricketers, who had successful careers in both ODIs and Tests, were great exponents of spin bowling and possessed a sharp cricketing mind, which helped them out-think the batsmen facing them.

While the Sri Lankan finished his career with 800 scalps in 133 Tests, which is a world record, Warne comes second in the list of wicket-takers with 708 wickets. However, former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has opined that Warne did not have the variety of his teammate Muralitharan.

“Murali was a champion bowler, he went about his game differently to others. Warne did not have the variety that Murali did. Murali knew what he was doing and believed in grinding a batsman down. If he had to wait for ten overs to get a batsman out, he will do that,” Jayawardene told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

“Warne and Murali are two different personalities, Warney is a steady leg-spinner but he probably played much more with the tactical honours of you come and attack me, I will get you out, he probably knew that he did not have the variety that Murali had,” he added.

While Murali called it quits from international cricket post the 2011 World Cup, Warne, on the other hand, played his last international match in the 2007 Ashes, a series which the Aussies won 5-0.

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