Without any argument Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan are the two best spinners that World of cricket has ever produced but the Sri Lankan’s teammate Mahela Jayawardene has said that Murali had more variations than that of Warne.
Without doubt Shane Warne is regarded as the greatest leg-spinner ever while as Murali is greatest amoung offies.
Murali finished his career with 800 scalps in 133 Tests, which is a world record.
Warne is second in the list with 708 wickets. Both men were also crowned world champions in the 50-over format and had equally successful ODI careers.
“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 said that bowlers of this generation might not be able to touch the numbers of Murali and Warne as they are up against better batsmen.
“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. ( With inputs from HT Sports)