“Steve was easily the most selfish cricketer that I ever played with”: Why Shane Warne called Steve Waugh the most selfish cricketer?

Shane Warne never had good relations with Steve Waugh since the 1999 West Indies tests, but this rivalry got reignited in 2020.

Legendary spinner Shane Warne has got a lot of stories around him. From drug tests failure to fight with Ranatanga to passing information to a bookmaker to bowling the “Ball Of The Century.”

Shane Warne also has some bad history with the legendary Steve Waugh as well. This all started in 1999 when Steve Waugh decided to drop Shane Warne from the final West Indies test. In his book “No Spin” Warne described that instance about how the captain did not back him.

“I was vice-captain and bowling pretty ordinary and Tugga (Waugh) opened the selection meeting between the two of us and Geoff Marsh, the coach, by saying, ‘Warney, I don’t think you should play this next Test’,” Warne said in the book.

“Silence. ‘Er, right,’ I said. ‘Why?’ ‘I don’t think you’re bowling very well, mate.’ ‘Yes… fair call,’ I admitted. ‘My shoulder (after surgery) is taking longer than I thought but it’s close now. The feel is slowly coming back and then the rhythm will come, mate. I’m not worried’,” Warne recalled.

Shane Warne said that he had the backing of the selectors and coach, but Waugh did not support him. He said that he was very disappointed on Waugh’s attitude towards him.

“Disappointed is not a strong enough word. When the crunch came Tugga didn’t support me, and I felt so totally let down by someone who I had supported big time and was also a good friend,” Warne wrote.

Shane Warne vs Steve Waugh reignited in 2020

In 2020, ESPNcricinfo provided a stat that showed that Waugh has been involved in the most number of run-outs. Steve Waugh has been involved in 104 run-outs, in which 73 times the partner got out. “Wow! So S Waugh was involved in the most ever run-outs in test cricket (104) & ran his partner out 73 times – is that correct? Mmmmmmmmm”, Warne tweeted.

A guy on Twitter named Rob Moody was fast enough to post the compilation of all the run-outs of Steve Waugh. Warne again could not hold himself back in tweeting. “Steve was easily the most selfish cricketer that I ever played with and this stat…….” Warne tweeted.

Shane Warne was the first cricketer to take 700 test wickets. He ended his career with 708 test wickets, whereas he has 293 ODI wickets under his belt. He also won the title of Indian Premier League 2008 with the Rajasthan Royals.