‘His legacy will never fade’ - Cricket fraternity remembers Shane Warne on his 54th birth anniversary
Shane Warne would have turned 54 on September 13 if he had been alive.
September 13 marked Shane Warne's 54th birth anniversary. Warne was born in 1969, in Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne. On March 4, 2022, he passed away in Thailand, leaving the sporting world in shock and grief.
Warne made his first-class cricket debut on 15 February 1991, finishing with figures of 0/61 and 1/41 for Victoria against Western Australia at Junction Oval in Melbourne. Meanwhile, he made his international debut in a Test match against India in Sydney in January 1992. In his first game, he picked up a wicket, dismissing former India opener Ravi Shastri, who scored a double hundred during the game.
He first played in an ODI in March 1993 in Wellington against New Zealand but did not play the game's shortest format. The spin legend retired from international cricket at the end of Australia's 2006–07 Ashes series victory over England. He served as the Rajasthan Royals' player-coach for the first four seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and led the team to win the title in the inaugural season.
In his 15-year-long career, Warne took 708 Test wickets at an average of 25.41 and an economy rate of 2.65. He also pbagged 293 scalps in 194 ODIs at an average of 25.73. Moreover, he was the first cricketer to reach 700 wickets in the longest format of the game.
Warne was a solid batter for Australia down the order and has scored more runs than any other Test player without scoring a hundred. Notably, he has amassed 3154 and 1018 runs in Test and ODI, respectively.
With his mastery of leg spin, Warne redefined cricket thinking. After retiring, he continued to work as a commentator, worked for charities, and acted in commercials. For his contributions to the game, he received a posthumous appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
For the uninitiated, he was embroiled in multiple off-field scandals and endured punishments that included a ban for testing positive for a prohibited substance and sexual misconduct allegations.
Here is how the cricketing fraternity remembered Shane Warne on his birth anniversary:
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