Main credit for Shane Warne lay in the fact that he revived the dying art of wrist spin

None can dispute Shane Warne's greatness as a cricketer.

His stellar international career spanned across 15 years and saw him take 708 Test wickets — the most ever for an Australian, and the second-most of all time. Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan was only better than him.

Young cricket stars certainly grew up across the idolizing him. Having made his Test debut in 1992, Warne’s otherworldly talent saw him rise to become a key figure across all formats in one of the greatest sustained periods of dominance by any team in world cricket, says Fox Sports.

He was a member of Australia’s World Cup-winning squad in 1999, five Ashes-winning sides between 1993 and 2003, and the team that conquered the final frontier in India in 2004.

Warne truly announced his arrival on the world stage at the 1993 Ashes where, with his very first ball in Test cricket against England, he delivered the ‘ball of the century’ to dismiss Mike Gatting.

The delivery drifted, and pitched outside leg before fizzing back across Gatting to clip his off-stump, leaving the England veteran stunned.

The cricket world was stunned, too, with Warne sending a statement that he was going to single-handedly revive the dying art of wrist spin.

Warne’s maiden Test innings was not suggestive of the greatness that was to come, taking 1-150 from his 

45 overs with his first wicket being India's very own Ravi Shastri.

His Test career may have started slowly over the year that followed but selectors put their faith in the kid 

from Melbourne’s east — and the rest is history.

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was found dead in his hotel room at Koh Samui in Thailand of a suspected heart attack. He was 52, long retired but active as a commentator, his insights on the game as rare and precious as his art.

That “there was no one quite like…” is often uttered as a formality at farewells and in obituaries. But the cliche could not have been truer in Warne’s case. Few bowled leg-spin like him — 708 Test wickets and 293 ODI wickets are proof of that. 

"He was the Donald Bradman of bowling. Apter perhaps, cricket’s version of Diego Maradona. Like the Argentine, he glowed in the gifts nature bestowed upon him, and his quest for the pleasures of life was insatiable. Like that flawed genius of football, he made mistakes in life and the game — both were banned for consuming drugs to aid weight loss — although Warne’s trip never spiralled out of control," says 'Indian Express'.