Interesting anecdotes
While Glenn Mcgrath recalled his association with the late Shane Warne, former India bowling coach Bharat Arun, also part of the panel discussion, revealed how Mohammed Shami emerged as one of India’s top fast bowlers.
Australian fast bowling great Glenn Mcgrath described former team-mate and late leg-spinner Shane Warne as the “ultimate competitor.” Warne, one of cricket’s all-time greats, died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 52 in Thailand in March. “Warnie was one of the most amazing guys I’ve ever met. He was a normal bloke like the rest of us, but lived an extraordinary life. Off the field, he got himself into a little bit of trouble. But on the field, he was the ultimate competitor,” Mcgrath said during a panel discussion on Role of High-performance Centres in Achieving Excellence in Sports at Sportstar’s South Sports Conclave.
Mcgrath also recalled an interesting anecdote from the fourth Test against England in Melbourne in 2006. “That was Shane’s home ground. Capacity crowd. 95000 people. Warnie was on 699 Test wickets. He was bowling to Andrew Strauss, the England captain. I remember fielding at mid-on, and he came over to me and said, ‘I am just going to keep it tight for an over or so. Then next over, I am going to toss one up. Strauss is going to slog sweep, and I will bowl him through the gate.’ I said, ‘Seems like a pretty good plan to me, Shane.’
“And so, he set Strauss up. I don’t know if Straussie was listening to us, but he didn’t try to slog sweep. He tried to whip it over midwicket. And the ball dropped, turned, and Warne bowled him through the gate. He was running around. The crowd went up in celebration. 700 Test wickets.”
Meanwhile, former India bowling coach Bharat Arun, also part of the panel discussion, revealed how Mohammed Shami emerged as one of India’s top fast bowlers.
Shami was coming off a stellar Test series in South Africa in 201■ where he was India’s highest wickettaker with 15 wickets in three matches, at an average of 17.06. His five for 2■ in the second innings of the third and final Test helped India script a historic 63-run win over the Proteas. However, after failing the fitness test, he was left out of the one-off Test against Afghanistan and the A-tour of England.
“I remember an incident when Shami was going through personal problems. His physical fitness was at the lowest ebb. We were about to go on the A-tour of England. Shami had failed a fitness test.
“He walked up to Ravi (Shastri) and me, saying he was very angry with life and wanted to give up the sport,” Arun said.
“We sat him down and told him that anger was the best thing that can happen to a fast bowler. We told him that if he channelises his anger and uses it to get fitter, he could do wonders.
“We sent him to the NCA for a month. He trained exceptionally hard, like a maniac bull. I remember him calling me in England and saying ‘now I am as strong as a horse, and I am ready to take on the world’. The rest is history.”