The growing animosity between India and Australia and its on-field manifestations may have come as a worry for the match officials but Warne believes the game needs drama like this
MELBOURNE: The growing animosity between India and Australia and its on-field manifestations may have come as a worry for the match officials but spin great Shane Warne believes the game needs drama like this and it would only spice up the summer of cricket.
A showman who hardly needed provocations to get under the skin of the opponents, Warne saw nothing wrong in S Sreesanth's war of words with Andrew Symonds or Harbhajan Singh's outburst, goaded by the close-in fielders in the heated second ODI at Kochi.
"I don't think anything was over the top, so I think it's going to add a bit of spice to the summer," Warne was quoted as saying by 'The Australian'.
"Everyone's going to be looking for Sreesanth to do his stuff and it shows with a bit of passion. I think it's going to be good for the summer," he said.
On the contrary, Warne said Sreesanth's aggression only underlines his competitive spirit.
In his illustrious international career, Warne never allowed anyone to bully or browbeat him but admitted sledging Sachin Tendulkar often proved counter-productive.
"We tried to go after Sachin in the early '90s and he's reeled off a hundred just about every game he played, so we thought OK, let's have a beer with him and say, 'you're a great bloke, Sachin', and don't say anything to him on the field," Warne said.
He said people tend to blow things out of proportions and had no qualms in admitting that he used to like annoying the batsmen.
"I think the way all that sort of stuff goes there can be too much said about it. Sometimes in the heat of battle something will happen and someone might overstep the mark, but that's very rare and at the moment I think it's good for the game if there's a little bit of niggle in it.
"I used to like that ... it was nice if it was always (South Africa's) Darryl Cullinan, but it could be anyone down there which would get me in the game and get me in a contest of me versus you" he said.
The spin great also revealed that he was in touch with Cricket Australia to offer his service to "get around to the states and help the young spinners and talk to the captains as well".
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