Mahela Jayawardene reveals who was the better spinner among Shane Warne and Muralitharan

Mahela Jayawardene has revealed the difference between Sri Lankan spin legend as well as his former team-mate Muttiah Muralitharan and Australian spin wizard Shane Warne. Both Muralitharan and Warne are the all-time successful spinners in the history of Test cricket. Murali has 800 scalps to his name and is the highest wicket-taker in red-ball cricket whereas, his Australian counterpart has 708 wickets in the longest format.

'Two different personalities': Mahela Jayawardene

"Murali was a champion bowler, he went about his game differently to others. Warne did not have the variety that Murali did. Murali knew what he was doing and believed in grinding a batsman down. If he had to wait for ten overs to get a batsman out, he will do that," Jayawardene told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

He further said that Warne and Murali are two different personalities. "Warne is a steady leg-spinner but he probably played much more with the tactical honours of you come and attack me, I will get you out, he probably knew that he did not have the variety that Murali had," he added. 

"We are yet to see if the modern-day bowlers hit the numbers that their predecessors did. The present bowlers are probably up against better batting units. If they even do not hit the numbers like their predecessors, it does not mean they are bad bowlers."

Jayawardene said the top ten wicket-takers in modern-day cricket, all of them played during the first half of his career. "There was Murali, Warne, McGrath, Kumble, Harbhajan, Akram, Waqar, and Saqlain. Their numbers speak for themselves," the former Lankan skipper added.

Warne has been a part of two World Cup finals that the Australian team had featured in. One in 1996 (lost to Sri Lanka) and 1999 (beat Pakistan comprehensively). He called it a day on his illustrious cricketing career in January 2007 after the Aussies had overcome arch-rivals England in the 2006/07 Ashes series at home.

Muralitharan on the other hand has featured in three  World Cup finals. He was an integral part of Lanka's 1996 triumphant squad. However, even though his team had made it to back-to-back finals in the 2007, and, 2011 editions respectively, the island nation could not get over the finish line on both occasions. He bid adieu to all forms of cricket after Sri Lanka's World Cup 2011 final loss to co-hosts India at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on April 2, 2011. 

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(With ANI inputs)