Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke has revealed that legendary spinner Shane Warne often smoked before stepping onto the cricket field.
Shane Warne is arguably one of the best spinners the game has ever witnessed. The leg-spinner represented Australia for 15 years and his name always hogged the headlines for his on and off-field antics.
While talking on Uncensored Podcast, former Australian skipper Michael Clarke said that Shane Warne coped with things outside off the field. He revealed that the latter used to smoke and even used to 'put it out and 'hide' it, only to continue again after every match.
“He would always leave the things happening off the field. Generally, Warnie would have a smoke as he was walking onto the ground. He will try to hide it somewhere. And when he finished his smoke and put it out, he knew that it was game time.
“He crossed that line and whatever he had going off the field, he would leave it there, go and do his stuff on the field and when he came back, he knew it was still going to be there,” Micheal Clarke said on the Uncensored Podcast.
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Clarke lauded Shane Warne for his strong mentality because of which he was able to perform well even after so much media pressure.
“I think that was his greatest strength, how mentally strong he was to still be able to perform when he had so much media pressure off the field with his life. He had it all his career,” he said.
During the flag end of his career, Shane Warne improved his batting and even scored 249 runs in the Ashes series as Australia whitewashed England 5-0. Talking about the same Micheal Clarke lauded him for his all-around heroics.
“In 2005 he was absolutely genius with bat and ball. You don’t see that often, Warne making runs with the bat,” he concluded.
Shane Warne is the second-highest wicket-taker in the history of Test cricket with 708 scalps in 145 matches and has taken over 1000 wickets across formats.
(Uncensored Podcast inputs)
