‘He looked after his friends’ - Anil Kumble reveals an untold secret about Shane Warne

The news of Shane Warne’s death has given rise to a multitude of tributes and anecdotes pouring in for the Aussie bowling maestro. And, Indian spin bowling colossus Anil Kumble has revealed a secret about Warne.

Kumble stated that the Australian players will not go after a player if he is a friend of Warne. Kumble further said that when he walked in to bat, the Australian players did not indulge in any banter with him as he was a good friend of Warne.

“There was this secret, an untold secret about the Australian team, that they will not go after a cricketer if you are friends with Shane Warne. So when you went out to bat, and if you were friends with Warne, you didn’t get any banter from the Aussies. So when I went to bat, Aussies didn’t need to do any banter to unsettle me. That was Warnie, that was how he looked after his friends,” said Anil Kumble in a chat with Star Sports.

Shane Warne’s greatness magnifies as he did well against India: Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble also stated that Shane Warne’s greatness magnifies further as he played well against the Indian side. Adding that Warne wanted to perform well against India, Kumble concluded by stating that the iconic 1998 series between India and Australia was all about the battle between Warne and Sachin Tendulkar.

“His greatness magnifies because he played really well against India. He wanted to do really well against us because we were good players of spin. There was this series in 1998 where everybody was speaking about ‘Sachin vs Warne’. Warne got the better of him in the first innings, and then Sachin got the better of him in the second,” concluded Anil Kumble.

Anil Kumble played 132 Tests and 271 ODIs for the Indian side. While he scalped 619 wickets in the whites, the leg spinner took 337 wickets in the ODI format of the game.