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

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:
-------------------
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:
--------------------
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

Of Course Shane Warne

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

D

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. ;-)

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

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

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.

murali is the best.

D

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.

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

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

ssk429 said:
warne is better
murli is from the subcontinent so he has tha advantage
and his action seems like he chucks

I agree.

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.

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

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%

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

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

H

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..

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

???

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

1 more vote for Murali.

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

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).

@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.

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

Shane Warne forever.And after him apna Kumble.

D

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.

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

my vote goes to warne

D

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.

Where is Anil Kumble?

S

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

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.

^^ 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

B

Sorry , i was late reading this hot topic!! :evil:

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.

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.