‘It didn’t feel real’ – Ricky Ponting on Shane Warne’s untimely death

Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting paid a moving tribute to spin bowling colossus and former teammate Shane Warne, who breathed his last on 4th March 2022. Ponting admitted that he was shocked when he heard the news of Warne’s death. Ponting also added that the news of Warne’s death did not feel real to him. The former Australia skipper then reflected on his bond with Warne and what he meant to him.

“I was shocked I think like probably the rest of the world. I mean I’ve got the messages when I woke up this morning. I went to bed last night knowing that I had to take my daughters for netball and then was confronted with what didn’t seem quite real at that time and even now probably doesn’t really seem like it’s real either so I’ve had a few hours now to digest it all and think about how a part of my life he was and reflect on a lot of those memories through the years,” said Ponting according to The Hindustan Times.

Shane Warne is hailed by many as the greatest leg spinner in the history of the game. Warne is the second-highest wicket-taker in Test match cricket and scalped 708 wickets in the whites for the Australian cricket team. In a stellar career that spanned a decade and a half, the leg-spin bowling maestro represented the Australian side in 145 Test matches.

Warne also scalped close to 300 wickets in ODI cricket as well. Warne’s legendary battles with India’s Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies’ Brian Lara are etched in golden letters in cricketing folklore.