I am not able to fathom the untimely demise of spin wizard Shane Warne. Warne burst onto the international scene in 1993 with the 'Ball of the Century' that bamboozled Mike Gatting. He went on to take 708 Test wickets and become a legend of the game in an incredible career that spanned 15 years.
I have had the opportunity to interact with Warne and receive tips from him. I was a member of the India 'A' team which played a three-day warm-up match at Jamshedpur with the visiting Australian team in 1998. Though Warne did not play that game, he saw me bowling while sitting in the Australian dugout. I claimed three wickets; that of Steve Waugh, Darren Lehmann, and Ricky Ponting and returned figures of 3/71.
I went to Warne after the match and I found him very kind and caring. At that time, I was able to bowl leg spin with decent speed but my googlies were a tad slower. When I sought Warne's advice to improve it, he told me that he too bowled slow googlies. According to him, the speed of the ball depends on a bowler's action and physique. "There is no need to bother about something that is not your strong point. Concentrate on your strengths. You bowl leg-spin very well. You are getting wickets by turning the ball and bowling the straight ones. Then why are you worried about googlies?," he asked.
It was a huge lesson for me. When we overthink our weaknesses, we tend to forget about the things at our disposal. Warne taught me that essential life lesson.
(The writer is a member of the International Cricket Council's panel of umpires and a former Kerala captain)