Subhash Gupte, not Shane Warne, finest leg-spinner of all time: Sobers

West Indian legend Sir Garfield Sobers has said that Australian great Shane Warne has been overrated as a bowler.

Sobers made this claim in a book released in England titled In a League of Their Own: 100 Cricket Legends Select Their World XI.

Sobers used his foreword to overcome the notion held in Australia that Warne was cricket's greatest slow bowler.

Sobers nominated the late Subhash Gupte of India as the finest leg-spinner of all time.

"Someone who is called great from today's game is Shane Warne, but I have got my reservations about Shane. I think he is a great bowler, but I'm not sure how well he compares with spinners overall," Sobers writes.

"I think people get carried away with this man's ability as he hardly ever bowled a good googly," Fox Sports quoted him as saying in the book.

"To me, Shane Warne is a great turner of the ball. I like his aggressive attitude, I love the way he attacks batsmen, and I give him 100% for that as not enough spinners bowl with that approach, but in my estimation Subhash was a better leg-spinner," he said.

Taking a dig at former England opener Geoff Boycott, Sobers said: "Geoffrey was a great player in his own style. He played within his limitations and didn't take too many chances with good balls or even half-good balls.

"Great players have to take good balls and turn them into bad balls, but Geoff never seemed to be able to do that."