# Shane Warne or Mutthiah Muralitharan-who is a better spinner?



## abhijit_reddevil (Dec 22, 2006)

They both are outstanding players in their own right. With Warne announcing his retirement from all forms of cricket yesterday, a void will surely be created in Australian cricket. Both are close to 700 wickets in tests, infact Warne is on 699.

But due to unjust controversies regarding his doosra, my vote goes to Murali. Moreover, I don't like any of the Aussies. I hope that after Martyn, Warne and Mcgrath retiring and speculations about Mathew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist retiring after the Ashes, a dark void will be created in Oz cricket just like in the 80's.

Following are Murali's and Warne's records. (Source: www.cricinfo.com)

Shane Keith Warne:
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Batting and fielding averages 
class  mat  inns  no  runs  hs  ave  bf  sr  100  50  4s  6s  ct  st 
Tests   143   197   16   3043   99   16.81   5351   56.86   0   11   338   35   124   0 
ODIs   194   107   29   1018   55   13.05   1413   72.04   0   1   60   13   80   0 
First-class   284   383   47   6444   107*   19.17         2   24         246   0 
List A   297   189   35   1819   55   11.81         0   1         119   0 
Twenty20   2   2   0   12   12   6.00   14   85.71   0   0         0   0 

 Bowling averages 
class  mat  balls  runs  wkts  bbi  bbm  ave  econ  sr  4  5  10 
Tests   143   40315   17818   699   8/71   12/128   25.49   2.65   57.67   48   36   10 
ODIs   194   10642   7541   293   5/33   5/33   25.73   4.25   36.32   12   1   0 
First-class   284   71811   32793   1260   8/71      26.02   2.73   56.99      63   11 
List A   297   15699   11088   452   6/42   6/42   24.53   4.23   34.73   20   3   0 
Twenty20   2   48   51   1   1/29   1/29   51.00   6.37   48.00   0   0   0 

Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1994
One-Day International Player of the Year - 2000
Selected as one of five Wisden cricketers of the century, 2000
Test Player of the Year - 2006

Muttiah Muralitharan:
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Batting and fielding averages 
class  mat  inns  no  runs  hs  ave  bf  sr  100  50  4s  6s  ct  st 
Tests   110   144   49   1117   67   11.75   1613   69.24   0   1   129   24   59   0 
ODIs   282   132   49   480   27   5.78   687   69.86   0   0   31   6   112   0 
First-class   201   249   71   1990   67   11.17         0   1         109   0 
List A   359   166   61   655   27   6.23         0   0         132   0 
Twenty20   5   2   1   16   9   16.00   10   160.00   0   0         2   0 

 Bowling averages 
class  mat  balls  runs  wkts  bbi  bbm  ave  econ  sr  4  5  10 
Tests   110   36705   14649   674   9/51   16/220   21.73   2.39   54.45   40   57   19 
ODIs   282   15397   9866   425   7/30   7/30   23.21   3.84   36.22   11   8   0 
First-class   201   57244   22514   1197   9/51      18.80   2.35   47.82      104   31 
List A   359   19218   12043   539   7/30   7/30   22.34   3.75   35.65   13   10   0 
Twenty20   5   102   90   10   4/19   4/19   9.00   5.29   10.20   1   0   0 

Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1999


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## Hustlerr (Dec 22, 2006)

Of Course Shane Warne


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## tarey_g (Dec 22, 2006)

Muttiah Muralitharan is not even a bowler , no comparison to warne.
Shrilanka has growing number of throw ballers since they let play murli.


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## drvarunmehta (Dec 22, 2006)

Murali definitely. He only has lesser wickets because he's played fewer matches. But is average is much better.
Unlike Murali, Warne has never performed very well against India.
Plus Murali had to go through hell when his action was questioned (by an Aussie umpire).

@tarey: His action has been cleared by the ICC and everyone has made their peace with it except a certain Aussie umpire (who got kicked out of the elite panel this year).

PS Didn't Shane Warne admit to giving information to a bookie along with Mark Waugh? IMO he should have been penalised just like the other cricketers implicated in match fixing.

PPS As you can see I don't like the Aussies much. Arrogant, racist SOB's. I guess writing all this makes me a little racist too.


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## ~Phenom~ (Dec 22, 2006)

I just cant decide who is better, to me both are great.


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## abhijit_reddevil (Dec 22, 2006)

^^^Oops, I did not consider that option. Can I edit the poll options and add one more choice?


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## soham (Dec 22, 2006)

You guys must remember that murli is from the subcontinent where pitches are built for spinners. Moreover he has taken most of his wickets in his home turf. On the other hand Shane Warne has come from a background where spin is alien. So Shane is the best. No doubt about it.


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## hailgautam (Dec 22, 2006)

murali is the best.


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## drvarunmehta (Dec 22, 2006)

Shane Warne has taken many wickets against England who are really pathetic against spin. Even after 15 years they seem to have no clue on how to face him.


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## ssk_the_gr8 (Dec 22, 2006)

warne is better 
murli is from the subcontinent so he has tha advantage
and his action seems like he chucks


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## Vyasram (Dec 22, 2006)

for the thousand'th time , " MURALI DOESN"T THROW "

he is a slightly better bowler than warne (look at his average)

and also the doping episode reduced warne's reputation


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## kumarmohit (Dec 22, 2006)

ssk429 said:
			
		

> warne is better
> murli is from the subcontinent so he has tha advantage
> and his action seems like he chucks



I agree.


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## tarey_g (Dec 22, 2006)

drvarunmehta said:
			
		

> @tarey: His action has been cleared by the ICC and everyone has made their peace with it except a certain Aussie umpire (who got kicked out of the elite panel this year


ICC does the (bowling)test in a controlled environment where the player who has been tested behaves in best possible manner and tries to pass the test. When it comes to real match the story is different. They dont have motion capture sensors over the players in a real match
So I don't give damn to what ICC has to say abt his action , but it looks a clear throw ball to me. Also i can't remember the name of other Srilankan bowler who is even worse throw bowler. Shame to cricket.

I have stopped watching cricket as the game has names a shohaib,murli etc

Edit: i think the name of the other srilankan throw bowler is Malinga.


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## ssk_the_gr8 (Dec 22, 2006)

one more point people & a very important 

warne took so many wickets with good bowlers in his team they weren't sittin idle mcgrath , lee ,fleming ,gillespie & others they were also takin wickets 
but with murli there was only vaas just 1 good bowler
and with murli playin more matches at tailor made pitches for spinners in the subcontinent warne has to be the best


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## soham (Dec 22, 2006)

ssk429 said:
			
		

> one more point people & a very important
> 
> warne took so many wickets with good bowlers in his team they weren't sittin idle mcgrath , lee ,fleming ,gillespie & others they were also takin wickets
> but with murli there was only vaas just 1 good bowler
> and with murli playin more matches at tailor made pitches for spinners in the subcontinent warne has to be the best



Agree 100%


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## kl_ravi (Dec 22, 2006)

What about Shane Warne's escapades off the field !!
Especially with females, Taking Banned Substances etc .....


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## ~Phenom~ (Dec 22, 2006)

^^ we r talking about sports not considering  how they are as a person . just consider their sports abilities.


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## ha_shock (Dec 22, 2006)

No doubt, its Warney.. We are talking about a bowler and not about a javelin thrower as Bedi calls..

He is the best bowler to have played cricket..


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## abhijit_reddevil (Dec 22, 2006)

Since when we started believing in Bishen Bedi's comments.???


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## ravi_9793 (Dec 22, 2006)

both r best...but when comparing I think murli will take over shane.


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## blueshift (Dec 22, 2006)

1 more vote for Murali.


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## blackpearl (Dec 22, 2006)

Warne is a genius. Murali is good too and I don't believe he throws. But Warne is better of the two.


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## aditya.shevade (Dec 22, 2006)

drvarunmehta said:
			
		

> Murali definitely. He only has lesser wickets because he's played fewer matches. But is average is much better.
> Unlike Murali, Warne has never performed very well against India.
> Plus Murali had to go through hell when his action was questioned (by an Aussie umpire).
> 
> ...



Average is the number of runs per wicket and strike rate is the number of balls per wicket.

You are forgetting the fact that there is no one but Murali most of the times, where Aussies have McGrath and the rest of the "fauj" (army) with them, so warne doesn't et to bowl much. There strikerate is almost the same, a differance of 0.something.

So now we consider the action, Warne has a copybook action, no problems and everyone is happy. Murali on the other hand, had been facing a lot of problems with his action, he cannot bowl that well outside of the continent (I am not saying warne can but Murali cannot).

Warne is the only player to have taken 500+ wickets to win matches. If you put together the 700 of warne, 555 of Mcgrath, 250 of Gillespie, 200 of Brett Lee, you will understand how tough it has been for him, on the other hand, in Srilankan team, only Vaas is somewhat a long time player, the rest are crap compared to the aussies.

Aditya


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## gaurav_indian (Dec 22, 2006)

Shane Warne forever.And after him apna Kumble.


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## drvarunmehta (Dec 22, 2006)

Bowling alongside other bowlers can also be a good thing. It takes the pressure off Warne because there are other people to do the job if he dosen't deliver. Murali has always been expected to do the job on his own because other than Vaas no one else is that reliable.

Who says Murali cannot bowl well outside the subcontinent? He has played well on every surface. He just won the last test for Sri Lanka against New Zealand away from home on a wicket that doesn't do much for spinners.

The best way to decide between 2 spinners is to see their performance against India. Murali wins hands down in this regard.


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## aditya.shevade (Dec 22, 2006)

And since when Indian batsman have been the benchmark to test spinners?


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## NIGHTMARE (Dec 22, 2006)

my vote goes to warne


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## drvarunmehta (Dec 22, 2006)

aditya.shevade said:
			
		

> And since when Indian batsman have been the benchmark to test spinners?


 Since a very long time. Don't just go by their recent performances.


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## Manshahia (Dec 22, 2006)

Where is Anil Kumble?


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## sanddy (Dec 23, 2006)

MURLI as he has his own style(warne also),but maurli has suffered a lot  at the hands of european ICC panels,who are always HARSE on asians,and let go the WHITE,inspite of this all MURLI is still on NO 2 with excellent avg


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## eddie (Dec 23, 2006)

Even though I am biased against Warne for his off-field escapades (comes out as a terrible human being) but I sincerely feel that Murali is the better cricketer.

As far as I can see, Murali is probably the only spinner in the world who has the ability to spin the ball even on a glass wicket. Those who say that he takes most of his wickets on subcontinent pitches should see his recent New Zealand performance and the way he demolished England a few years ago at their own turf. If we go by the same logic then out of 699 Warne's wickets, 419 have come against England (186), South Africa (130) and New Zealand (103). Now what do you want to say?

Add to this all the trauma that Murali had to go through at the time of chucking allegations. Yes, he got cleared by ICC in a controlled environment but remember that they made him bowl only the doosras. He bowled these balls repeatedly in front of them and was cleared. Also, why is it that only Asian or dark bowlers are always called chuckers? What about Lee...he has a clear action? In your dreams. On the other hand Asian players are being deliberately traumatised by the European agencies so that they don't perform well.

Also, I personally believe that Asians (or Indians?) have a habit of criticising our own greats. We always see faults in people who sweat it out there for us. We rarely stand by our own greats in their torrid times and forget the people who did wrong to us very fast.


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## aditya.shevade (Dec 23, 2006)

^^ As you said... I am biased against Murali. And I will still say, Warne and even Kumble is better than him. I don't know why, I just don't think he is the best. That's it, it's a matter of opinion and opinions change from a person to other. So I think we should just vote


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## babi_surat (Dec 27, 2006)

Sorry , i was late reading this hot topic!! 
but want to tell you guys that apna INDIAN BATSMEN are the best against spin bowling. 
So just see how this two gr8 bowlers bowl against india. 
I think you guys will agree murali has bowled consistently even in ODIs. max runs/over 4. But whenever Warne is up against indians i think indians will never mind having him for all 50 overs. 

Still remember the treatment he got in two aus tour of india??
In any day if you give this two bowler a chance they can be very dangerous but for me Murali is the best. being the only strike bowler of a team for a decade now is not a matter of joke.

more over when you get a BIG BAKRA TEAM LIKE ENGLAND every year that for also 5 test matches, you can surely get wickets.


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## __Virus__ (Dec 29, 2006)

Without a second thought, its Murali... had he been a so called chucker, he wudnt have been allowed to bowl at all. He was cleared by the biggies in there and our opinion saying he is a chucker is as lame as calling ur self god.


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