Ravi Ashwin talks of an interesting unheard story about Shane Warne

Many past and present cricketers have been pouring in their tributes and talking about Shane Warne since his passing last week. The latest to talk about the legendary cricketer is Ravi Ashwin. Ashwin revealed an interesting unheard story about Warne that was told to him by former Indian cricketer and current India head coach, Rahul Dravid.

Ashwin preceded the story by giving an insight into leg-spin bowling and elaborating on the dynamics of one of the things that made Warne such an effective exponent of leg-spin, his strong shoulders, which helped him with the rotation he put on the ball. He further went on to state an anecdote where Warne revealed in one of his chats to Dravid that the secret behind his strong shoulders was an injury to his legs in his younger days while playing ‘Aussies Rules Football’.

“It seems Rahul Bhai asked him, “How do you have such strong shoulders? What do you do?” It is such a unique story. There is a sport called ‘Aussies Rules Football’. It is a sport like Rugby. It seems he wanted to play the sport but was not built for it since people who play it are tall and well-built blokes,” Ashwin told the story on his YouTube channel.

For three-four weeks, he walked or rather floated using his bare hands: Ravi Ashwin talking of Shane Warne’s leg injury 

Divulging further details about the story, Ashwin mentioned that the Australian cricketer played Australian Rules Football before taking up cricket. However, an injury to his legs forced him to be out of the game for a long period. That is when Warne who was unable to walk while being on bed rest, used to try and crawl on his bare hands which made his shoulders strong.

“So, they used to bully him and it seems he broke both his legs while playing. He couldn’t walk and was on bed rest. For 3-4 weeks he walked or rather floated using his bare hands and those made his shoulders strong and there was no looking back. That’s what he has told Rahul Bhai. We all face obstacles in life, but look how Warne converted it as his success formula,” he added.