Brian Lara Hits Bullseye In Shane Warne vs Muttiah Muralitharan Debate: "Rate Him Higher..."

With a combined tally of 1,508 Test wickets, Muttiah Muralitharan and late great Shane Warne are regarded as the best spinners in the history of the sport. Sri Lanka great Muralitharan is the only bowler in the history to take 800 Test wickets while Warne finished his career not far behind him, picking up a staggering 708 wickets. West Indies legend Brian Lara, who faced both of them during his playing days, has opened up on the long-standing debate of who is better between the two.

Lara has revealed that while Muralitharan troubled him more with his variations, he found Warne much easier to pick.

"He is the best and you know, I walk out to bat against Murali, and I'm confused. I got that 688 runs in three matches and the first half an hour of Murali, I would be confused. I'd play a sweep shot down to deep backward square for a single. You know, I'd play a sweep shot again. And then all of a sudden, you know, because it's the guys, the other guys didn't read him. He's like, oh, take out the bit. No, no, no. But for Lara, nothing, nothing. Let's move everybody up. And all of a sudden, the pressure came off. But Murali gave me more pressure than Shane," Lara said on The Overlap Cricket show.

However, he labelled Warne as the best between the two, suggesting that the Australian was more "mentally stronger".

"But when I'd walk out to bat against Shane. The ball would be coming off the middle, every ball, and about 2-3 PM, he just produces this magical delivery or spell. That's why I rate him higher, because I think he was mentally stronger. And obviously with his bowling attack and the pitches that he bowled on, which favoured, you know, the McGraths and McDermotts, for him to pick up that amount of wickets, very, very special," he added.

For the record, Muralitharan dismissed Lara just once in international cricket. Warne, on the other hand, got the better of him three times.

Topics mentioned in this article

West Indies Cricket Team Sri Lanka Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Shane Warne Brian Lara Muttiah Muralitharan Cricket