Indian cricketer turned commentator, Sunil Gavaskar has found himself in hot water after calling the Australian bowling great, Shane Warne, a “pretty ordinary” spin bowler on the day of his death.
Gavaskar rated Warne below the Indian spinners and Muralitharan and said “No, I wouldn’t say that no. For me, the Indian spinners and Muttiah Muralitharan were better than Shane Warne.” While commenting on Warne’s bowling, Gavaskar said Warne’s record against India is pretty ordinary.
“Look at Shane Warne’s record against India. It was pretty ordinary. In India, he got five wickets only once in Nagpur, and that too because Zaheer Khan swung wildly against him to give him a fifer. Because he did not have much success against Indian players who were very good players of spin, I don’t think I would call him the greatest. Muttiah Muralitharan with a greater success he had against India, I would rank him over Warne in my book,” added Gavaskar.
After the statement, the former Indian skipper faced severe backlash on social media for his immature comments at an inappropriate time, and here’s how Twitter reacted to Gavaskar’s comment:
https://twitter.com/th3r2pyy/status/1499993782783442949
I really think that because of Gavaskar's stature as a cricketer, no one has felt the need to correct him or felt it was not ideal to correct him when he's been wrong. And I feel that's one of the reasons why he keeps saying things which are not ideal (or correct).
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) March 5, 2022
Hated Gavaskar when he had spoken crap after David Hookes' death.
And now him nitpicking on Warney's stats on the day of his death feels so triggering.
Surprising that it comes from a man who has spent so many years on the mic on international telivision.
— Vipul (@Sporty_Baba) March 5, 2022
Very poor commentary by Sunil Gavaskar….. He refused to call Shane Warne the greatest spinner ever because his number in India and against Indian batsman is not good…. So shameful.#Disgraceful
— Sadaf Shamim (@imSadafShamim) March 5, 2022
Sunil Gavaskar refuses to call Shane Warne the greatest spinner ever because he didn't take enough wicket in India and Indian Batsman.
Can he say same about Sachin who didn't have great numbers against say Glenn McGrath?
He should've said 'Not today'— Mihir Jha (@MihirkJha) March 4, 2022
Sunil Gavaskar, the most overrated cricketer. He must feel this pain and so he utter this insensitivity in his speeches. He is rated way above his pay grade due to paid media. He is no great & people will always remember him for being a selfish person. Shane Warne was great pic.twitter.com/dDxN8Mdsde
— 𝐴 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑘 (@ankit_kashyap7) March 5, 2022
It is pertinent to mention that Shane Warne was the first blower in history to achieve the milestone of 1,000 wickets across formats and is the second on the list of leading wicket-takers in Test cricket. He has represented Australia in 145 Tests and 194 ODI matches with 708 and 293 wickets respectively.
