Shane Warne's guile puzzled every batting order, earned him place among bowling greats

New Delhi [India], March 4 (ANI): The world of sports is still in shock at the demise of Shane Warne. The legendary Australian leg-spinner left a deep impact in international cricket at the highest levels with his ingenuity and determination.
Warne dies at age of 52. He died of a suspected heart attack, reported Fox Cricket. "Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived," said a statement on the Fox website.
Considered one of the best spinners to grace the world of cricket, Warne's legacy is unmatched. His presence was enough to send shivers down every batting order in the world. To get a glimpse of the talent he possessed, one just needs to look at his delivery that dismissed England batter Mike Gatting during the Ashes.
Warne's first ball of the 1993-94 Ashes series has been written into the history books as the "Ball of the Century". The ball turned from well outside leg stump to clip the off bail of Gatting's stumps.
Warne was one of the best leg-spinners to embrace the game. He scalped 708 wickets in his illustrious career which spanned 145 Test matches. He played 194 One Day Internationals for Australia in which he scalped 293 wickets.
Warne is regarded as one of the best tacticians who never got to captain his country. The right-hander was also handy with the bat as he scored 3,154 runs in his Test career. The leg-spinner was famous for his guile. He took a total of 1,001 wickets, becoming the first-ever bowler to scale the peak of 1,000 international wickets.
Warne made his Test debut in 1992. His tally of 708 Test wickets was the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket until it was broken by Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
Warne played domestic cricket for his home state of Victoria and he represented Hampshire in County cricket. He was the skipper of Hampshire for three seasons from 2005 to 2007. In 2000, he was also selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century.
He officially retired from all formats of cricket in July 2013. He had retired from international cricket in January 2007 at the end of Australia's 5-0 Ashes series victory over England.
Warne had also courted controversy during his career and faced a ban from the sport in 2003 for testing positive for a prohibited substance. . Warne also faced charges of accepting money from bookmakers during Australia's tour of Pakistan.
A day before the start of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, Warne was sent home after a drug test returned a positive result for a banned diuretic. In 1998, the Australian Cricket Board had revealed that three years earlier it had fined Warne and Mark Waugh "for accepting money from a bookmaker for giving information about pitch and weather conditions".
Before the start of the 1999 World Cup, Warne was given a fine and a two-match suspension by the International Cricket Council for talking to a newspaper about Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga.
Warne had a huge fan following in India. He had played in the first four seasons of the Indian Premier League for the Rajasthan Royals and led his team to victory against the Chennai Super Kings in the final of the 2008 season.
Warne had a great friendship with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. In his recent documentary 'Shane', Tendulkar and Warne spoke about their mutual admiration.
In 2013, Warne was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. (ANI)