Once again, Warne’s bowling the wrong line

Who would have believed it? That Shane Warne would act like a dumb blond and forget that he had a role to play in Australia’s Bangalore...

Who would have believed it? That Shane Warne would act like a dumb blond and forget that he had a role to play in Australia’s Bangalore victory. You could see it, the way he bowled and acted. Instead of flight, he was flat through the air and seemed to have lost not only the idea of how to bowl leg spin but also deliver wicket-taking balls.

That’s not like Warney at all, is it?

There he was, forgetting that he was another team member. And all because he wanted to surpass Muttiah Muralitharan’s Test world record of 532 wickets. In an excuse that is likely to embarrass teammates even further, Warne says that the thought of beating Murali’s record ‘‘messed up my mind’’.

I would love to know what the director of that operation, stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist, and producer, coach John Buchanan, had to say to him after the game.

Story continues below this ad

The reaction from Muralitharan was prosaic. Out of action until possibly January after a shoulder operation, he says he wasn’t too bothered by the thought of Warne taking the Test wicket-taking world record from him. Muralitharan also argued that no one could say how many wickets they would take in a Test.

He also felt that the battle between himself and Warne over how many wickets they were going to take was being exaggerated. ‘‘Every match we play there will be those who will be saying that I have passed him (Warne) and that in the next match he has passed me’’, he said. ‘‘As we are going to be around for a long time, it is one of those facts of life and the public will have to get used to this. I’m not worried by it all.’’

Ironically, before the start of the series, Warne tried to con everyone that he wasn’t too bothered about claiming the record. Last Sunday, though, it became too much and losing the plot didn’t help him as he went wicketless. If chasing records means more than to him than the Baggy Greens winning, perhaps he should rethink his role for the second Test at Chepauk Stadium.

As it is, his Chennai record is more perspiring than inspiring; in 2001 he ended with two for 181 and Australia lost the series 2-1. It’s a venue where India, if the top-order get their mind right, can go some way to repeating the 2001 result.

Story continues below this ad

Warne does have that penchant of being a tad cocky. Yet he admits to cringing every time the Andrew Hudson incident at The Wanderers of 1994 slips into mind. He lost the plot there as well. That was when he took Hudson’s wicket on a hot, scowling, frustrating and sweaty February afternoon, and at a venue overflowing with typical bad-tempered Johannesburg atmosphere.

Warne, firing off a loud volley of abuse at the departing Hudson, had to be physically restrained by Ian Healy. It was an episode that cost him not only his match fee but also an additional financial punishment by Cricket Australia as they were unhappy with the tap on the wrist and 25 percent fine and caution issued by ICC match referee D B Carr.