Shane Warne: Portrait of a Flawed Genius - Simon Wilde

When you think cricket, and think of some names – you might think of several – Shane Warne is likely to be one of them. Shane Warne has given Cricket one of it’s finest moments with his “ball of the century”, which by no means is the only good delivery, or perhaps not even the best delivery that he has bowled. But it is a legendary moment nonetheless.

There are several cricketers who have penned their autobiographies, or have biographies written on them. But few would appeal to me as much as Shane Warne’s. For both the right and the wrong reasons! Shane Warne is of course a fantastic cricketer. The best ever leg spinner perhaps. And then, he is also the bad boy with respect to his flings, alleged drug intake for which he was banned from International Cricket, and then his bookie contacts which again led him to troubles. One way or the other, he is one of those, love them or hate them but can’t ignore them characters.

Shane Warne is one of those happy go lucky guys who goes all out in the spirit of being happy go lucky. Perhaps that is the greatest flaw that he had. Drawing a line. But then, what would Shane Warne be if he started drawing lines. Would he have reached 600+ test wickets if he had? How much of a rebel streak that he had enabled him to achieve that in the first place. And how much of that streak was an excess? Guess there is no way to find out.

The biography charts out his career, and his personal life along with it with satisfactory details. A good thing is that the author does not present it like a history book or a Wikipedia entry. The book therefore is an entertaining read, providing glimpses into Shane Warne’s life, that one might not have otherwise. Another highlight of the book is that that author does not choose to harp either on the flaws part of the title, or the genius part. Facts and inferences are presented as they bear out. The lack of bias is refreshing. If one wanted a biased opinion, the book might as well have been a collection of tabloid articles on Shane Warne’s life. The author does a fair, balanced job of presenting Shane Warne’s life to us.

I wish that the book was written post-IPL first season, where Shane Warne shepherded his team to a victory – a brilliant feat considering that everyone had written them off for the kind of team Shane Warne had with Rajasthan Royals. That one tournament gave a fresh air to a fiery discussion about the tag line closely associated with Warney – ‘the best captain Australia never had’. It would have been nice to have a chapter on this episode in the book.

The book is not too long or boring to tire you out with needless details. And therefore it is a good read for anyone who enjoys cricket. I certainly enjoyed it.