A year since his departure, Shane Warne's aura remains a void impossible to fill
Shane Warne is the definition of the term 'box office'. No, this isn't a reference to his cricketing expertise alone. That's how he was as a persona - larger than life and a man who lived on his own terms.
His is a name that walks into most all-time XIs. He had contemporaries who challenged him during that era, but he was different. It was hard to look past him.
Cricket has often been a game where batters are revered as the quintessential poster boys. Warne was contrary to that. Yeah, we know he had a Test best of 99. But it was the sorcerer with the ball in hand that left us in awe of a sheer genius at work.
Today (March 4) marks a year since the news of his untimely passing shook us all. The cricketing community and its stakeholders were understandably grappling to come to terms with it. You and I experienced much the same emotions. It's hard to see our heroes slip away just like that, with life throwing one of its many harsh reality checks.
We have had some memorable battles on the field & shared equally memorable moments off it. I miss you not only as a great cricketer but also as a great friend. I am sure you are making heaven a more charming place than it ever was with your sense of humour and charisma, Warnie! https://t.co/j0TQnVS97r
It's even harder when you consider the fact that he was a voice that stood out with a clear demarcation. It had the confidence that he showed as a cricketer, the clarity that was reflected in his thought process, and wisdom that justified simply why he was one of the most intelligent brains that the sport was blessed with.
That voice was audible in the commentary box towards the start of 2022. You needn't have agreed with all of his takes. After all, each to his/her own. That's how Warne was as well - he wore his heart on his sleeve and was a man of his own thought process.
And then one day, that voice, along with the genius-personifying brain and persona, faded away. Just like that.
Shane Warne was one of a kind. And there won't be one like him
Yeah, facts! Of course, he was one of a kind. The blonde bombshell thrown into the deep end of the cauldron named Test cricket had all the makings of a cult hero. That is what Warne went on to become over time, despite a harsh introduction to the sport.
The tide was high when he burst onto the scene, but once he navigated through it, he wrote his own script. Over time, setting up batters with a gentle walk to the bowling crease and staying two steps ahead of the opponent in front of him became the norm.
You could argue that the step the batter found himself in was after being pushed into a fool's paradise courtesy of those setups. Harsh, but that's how Warne made it look. They could try everything they wanted, but they were cast into a trap by the magician.
Just ask Mike Gatting, who fell victim to a delivery that was as smooth as poetic motion in 1993 and found himself part of popular folklore (albeit not the way he'd have liked).
Warne's genius wasn't down to numbers. Not those 708 Test wickets or the 25-odd bowling average. Not 1001 international scalps. It was how he sowed the seeds that bore fruit in the form of these dismissals. Half-tracker flippers that skid through to bamboozle the stumps? I mean, what was that? The numbers are just an apt validation of his craft.
We're pretty fortunate to be living in an era of the internet and YouTube. Rewinding the clock is a metaphoric possibility to rekindle that sense of nostalgia. If you were after Warne's time as a player, your misfortune of not watching him live would soothe at the sight of his famous set-up of Brendon McCullum in a Big Bash League (BBL) game. Before, of course, you walk and hop into your load-up in a replication of that famed bowling action.
Guilty as charged - we've all tried replicating that in vain!
The king who bowled through the gates of our hearts
Warne was a charmer. He charmed fans around the world and swooned them into having nothing but awe and admiration aplenty for him. Talk about living like a king, eh?
A persona of his kind always comes with a factor of unpredictability. You just never know what's coming next. It could be a coaching stint. It could be a bold out-of-the-box statement. Or any other controversy, of whom he was always a favorite child. And mind you, it played its role in making this persona the mercurial one it became.
But there's a lot to learn about life from this man. It wouldn't have been easy being Shane Keith Warne. In the eye of the storm in the media for numerous reasons even after his playing days. Criticized for certain takes that not everyone would have fallen in line with for their own reasons. It's a brutal era of social media we live in too.
Yet, he was Shane Warne. He was how only Shane Warne could be. Larger than life and his way or the highway. It was a pretty endearing feature and he became the center of attention whether he wanted it that way or not.
He was impactful. Yes, he was an impactful figure. It was the sort of impact that had eyes turn in his direction. That was his aura. Rajasthan Royals (RR) can vouch for that - after all, he was that aura that rubbed off on a team of virtual unknowns to script one of cricket's biggest fairytales in the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL).
No wonder then that his passing has left such a deep-rooted impact on our hearts. Not only because the sport lost one of its biggest intellectual properties, but because it also lost a true one-of-a-kind character. That it all happened just hours after he paid tribute to another legend of the sport, Rod Marsh, who had passed on himself, left us all the more numb.
March 4, 2022, was one of those days when all of us who had grown up watching the man on our television sets or on the ground, were struck with grief. It felt personal. It still feels personal and scarcely believable.
The overflowing rush of tributes that followed into the rest of the calendar year, his mates choking up in remembrance of a good friend...we felt it all. It shattered us.
Fans are the biggest stakeholders in the sport. They make or break the game. Cricket may not be a world sport, but those closely attached to it create a special place in their hearts for their favorites. Warne bowled through the gates of them all and rested himself there for good.
A year has gone by already, yet the void remains king-sized. As king-sized as the life the man led. As king-sized as his legacy. Just like Shane Warne himself - monumental!
Hope you're resting easy up there, Warnie.
Also Read: Ranking CSK's 5 greatest batters of all time