"Embarrassment to Indian cricket!" - Fans slam Sunil Gavaskar for insensitive comments on Shane Warne

Gavaskar made controversial comments about the late Shane Warne

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar recently made a bold statement that he doesn't think late Australian legend Shane Warne is the best spinner to have ever played the game. The late 52-year-old received tributes from the entire cricketing fraternity after he passed away due to a suspected heart attack on Friday.

While many former and current cricketers have deemed Warne to be the best spinner they have ever seen, Gavaskar had another opinion. Gavaskar felt that since Warne didn't have a great record against India, he couldn't quite become a bowler with a stature similar to that of the great Muttiah Muralitharan.

Speaking to Sports Today on Saturday, here's what Gavaskar had to say about Warne's record:

"No I wouldn't say that (Warne is the greatest spinner of all time). For me, the Indian spinners and Muttiah Muralitharan were certainly better than Shane Warne. Because look at his record against India. His record is pretty ordinary against India. He got five wickets only once in Nagpur. Because he didn't have much success against the Indian team, I would rank Muralitharan over him in my book."

Gavaskar also gave his opinion on why he thought Warne wasn't the best captain Australia never had.

"I think that particular inaugural season was amazing because he didn't have big names," he said. "Warnie definitely had the knack of spotting talent. As far as he was the best captain Australia never had, the Australian selection committee knows its job. So let's reserve our judgement on that as well."

Twitterati slam Sunil Gavaskar for his comments on Shane Warne

Fans on Twitter, meanwhile, weren't happy with the way Gavaskar spoke about Warne's record against India. Some felt that it was insensitive of the Indian legend to speak in such a way about one of the greats of the game.

Here are some of the reactions:

I really think that because of Gavaskar's stature as a cricketer, no one has felt the need to correct him or felt it was not ideal to correct him when he's been wrong. And I feel that's one of the reasons why he keeps saying things which are not ideal (or correct).

Shocking tone deafness from Gavaskar. A). How can you take a public platform and air your personal theories about the tragedy B). How can you take this as a moment to one up a player because your fav won a head to head C). Not relevant but how nationalist do you have to be to-

Hated Gavaskar when he had spoken crap after David Hookes' death.

And now him nitpicking on Warney's stats on the day of his death feels so triggering.

Surprising that it comes from a man who has spent so many years on the mic on international telivision.

@IndiaToday @sardesairajdeep Mr Gavaskar could've avoided rating other spinner over shane..Man, this is tribute and no one cares who is the best in ur book..

Sunil Gavaskar is so embarrassing lol, not just to himself but to Indian cricket too🤦🏻‍♀️ buddhau just doesn't know what is to be said at what point in time.

https://t.co/4wa52i9wAm

Did Warne call Gavaskar a self-important bore who singlehandedly put people off cricket from the commentary booth?

Because he'd have been absolutely right. Someone needed to slap Gavaskar 20 years ago to straighten him out.

On the day of death of one of the greatest cricketers ever, an Indian legend on air was found saying, how someone else was better than the deceased — reiterating that he has just one five-wicket haul in India. Well done, sir 👏🏻 #Gavaskar #ShaneWarne

@kgbasic @IndiaToday @sardesairajdeep Sunil Gavaskar should retire from public speaking .. so shameful

Whoever is paying tribute to Warne with greatest leg spinner ever quote,
Gavaskar is getting an uncontrollable urge to correct them all

Anything coming from Sunil Gavaskar doesn't surprise me anymore. He was one of the greatest batsmen of his time but failed to deliver as a commentator.