'Shocking tone deafness' - Twitterati slam Sunil Gavaskar for 'belittling' Shane Warne's achievements

Australian spin legend Shane Warne passed away on March 4 due to a suspected heart attack in Thailand. He was aged 52. The whole world was taken aback by Warne’s demise and they all came forward to offer him their last respects. Tributes also poured in for the late leggie from the members of the cricketing fraternity- both past and present players.

Meanwhile, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar seems to have found himself in hot waters after he gave his personal opinion that Shane Warne’s spin bowling rivals Anil Kumble and Muttiah Muralitharan were certainly better than the 1999 World Cup winner and at the same time, Gavaskar also added that the leg-spinner’s record is ‘pretty ordinary’ against India.

 I would rank Muttiah Muralitharan over Shane Warne in my book: Sunil Gavaskar

“No, I wouldn’t say that (Warne is the greatest spinner of all time). For me, the Indian spinners and Muttiah Muralitharan were certainly better than Shane Warne. Because look at his record against India. His record is pretty ordinary against India. He got five wickets only once in Nagpur. Because he didn’t have much success against the Indian team, I would rank Muralitharan over him in my book”, said Gavaskar while speaking to Sports Today.

While these were Gavaskar’s personal opinions, it certainly did not go down well with a lot of cricket enthusiasts and they criticized the legendary batter for disrespecting the deceased leg-spinner.

Here are some of the reactions:

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

Sunil Gavaskar is so embarrassing lol, not just to himself but to Indian cricket too🤦🏻‍♀️ buddhau just doesn't know what is to be said at what point in time. pic.twitter.com/4wa52i9wAm

— tanya /// ypu era (@th3r2pyy) March 5, 2022

Shocking tone deafness from Gavaskar. A). How can you take a public platform and air your personal theories about the tragedy B). How can you take this as a moment to one up a player because your fav won a head to head C). Not relevant but how nationalist do you have to be to-

— Dweplea (@dweplea) March 4, 2022

So according to SG if someone plays very good against India he is the legend. Just wow.

— Pranav Baradkar 👨‍💻 (😷) (@BaradkarPranav) March 5, 2022

Meanwhile,  Shane Warne will be honored with a stand in his name at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) which also is his home ground. The Great Southern Stand at the venue will be renamed as the S.K. Warne Stand. This has officially been confirmed by the Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula.

While Warne is the second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 708 scalps to his name and also the second bowler after Muralitharan to take more than 1000 international wickets (1001 ), the Australian was the first-ever bowler to register 600 and 700 Test wickets respectively.