Anil Kumble Reveals The Secret About His Friendship With Shane Warne That Helped Him Play Against Australian Team

Former Indian spinner Anil Kumble revealed a secret about his camaraderie with late Australian player Shane Warne during their playing days. On Friday, Warne passed away due to a suspected heart attack, as reported by Fox Sports.

Warne was well-known to master the art of spin bowling and with the abundance of variations under his quiver, the spin wizard would trick the opposition batters which, however, would leave the fans of the game in amusement. Ask former England batter Mike Gatting on how he felt after missing a massive leg-spin from Warnie- a ball that went to be called as ‘Ball of the Century.’

However, Warne didn’t have enough success against the Indians as he could pick only 43 of his 708 Test scalps against the Asian side in 14 Test matches.

Anil Kumble reveals untold secret about the Australian team

Kumble, who ended his own Test career with 619 Test wickets (89 behind Warne), said that if one happened to be good friends of Warne then they would escape the sledging of the Australian team.

“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,” Kumble said on Star Sports in a special arrangement.

Shane Warne wanted to do really well against us: Anil Kumble

Kumble also talked about the rivalry between Warne and Indian legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar. The former Indian spinner said Warne was very keen on finding success against 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,” Kumble said.

Warne retired from international cricket after playing his last Test match against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in the Ashes 2006-07.

Also Read: Shane Warne, Rodney Marsh Will Always Be Remembered As Long As Cricket Is Played- Rahul Dravid