Shane Warne did not have the variety that Muttiah Muralitharan had: Mahela Jayawardene

Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan were considered as two pillars of the art of spin bowling. On their day, both the artisans possessed the ability to make batsmen dance on their tune with their variations. And, their record rightly proves their domination in international cricket through the 1990s and 2000s.

While Warne is regarded as the greatest leg-spinner ever, Muralitharan clinches the top spot among offies. However, their forte to spin the ball was no less than each other. Muralitharan finished his career with 800 scalps in 133 Tests, which is a world record.

Following him was Warne, who bid adieu to the sport with 708 wickets with the red ball. Both Warne and Muralitharan also had a successful ODI career, picking up 293 and 534 wickets respectively.

Speaking about the duo, former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has opined that Warne did not have the variety of his compatriot Muralitharan. According to the former Sri Lankan skipper, Shane Warne played more with tactical honours to conceal his lack of variety, unlike Muralitharan.

Warne and Murali are two different personalities: Mahela Jayawardene

“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.

Jayawardene also said that bowlers of this generation might not be able to touch the numbers of Muralitharan and Warne as they are up against better modern-day batting units.

“We are yet to see if the modern-day bowlers hit the numbers that their predecessors did. The present bowlers are probably up against better batting units. If they even do not hit the numbers like their predecessors, it does not mean they are bad bowlers,” Jayawardene said.

“If you look at the top ten wicket-takers in modern-day cricket, all of them played during the first half of my career. There was Murali, Warne, McGrath, Kumble, Harbhajan, Akram, Waqar, and Saqlain. Their numbers speak for themselves,” he added.