Australian legend Shane Warne died at the age of 52 in Thailand on Friday. The news took the cricket world by storm with former and currently cricketers taking to Twitter to pass on their condolences. Ricky Ponting led the reactions from the Australian cricket community and took to Twitter to post a heartfelt message for Warne. He wrote, "Hard to put this into words. I first met him when I was 15 at the Academy. He gave me my nickname. We were teammates for more than a decade, riding all the highs and lows together. Through it all he was someone you could always count on, someone who loved his family..."
He further added, "...someone who would be there for you when you needed him and always put his mates first. The greatest bowler I ever played with or against. RIP King. My thoughts are with Keith, Bridgette, Jason, Brooke, Jackson and Summer."
Former Australian wicketkeeper and a teammate of Warne, Adam Gilchrist also took to Twitter to state that the highlight of his career was to keep wickets to Warne.
"Numb. The highlight of my cricketing career was to keep wicket to Warnie. Best seat in the house to watch the maestro at work. Have often felt a tad selfish, that Heals and I pretty much exclusively are the only ones who had that thrill and pleasure at Test level. Rip Warnie", he wrote.
Here are the other reactions:
A former Australia captain, Warne represented Australia in 145 Test matches and took 708 wickets. He is the world's second-highest wicket-taker in Tests behind Muttiah Muralitharan. Also in 194 ODI matches, he has bagged 293 dismissals.