Ranatunga questions Warne's record against India

Arjuna Ranatunga, the former Sri Lanka captain, has criticised Shane Warne, the record-breaking spinner, for suggesting that rivals like Muttiah Muralitharan benefited by taking "cheap" wickets. "Shane tries to be larger than the game and life and expects a lot of credit for his performances. He thinks there's no better bowler than him," Ranatunga told AFP.

Warne said earlier this week that his world records of 651 career wickets and 87 in a calender year will not last long because other bowlers got more opportunities against weaker opponents. Without naming Muralitharan, his nearest rival with 584, Warne said: "There's a lot more cricket being played these days and you have teams like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in there, with some teams playing them a lot more (than others).

"I'm sure that whoever those people are, they might get the record." Warne told The Australian: "It doesn't take a sudoku expert or a Da Vinci Code sleuth to work out who 'those people' are." Muralitharan has taken more wickets (89) against Test minnows Zimbabwe than any other nation and he also has 34 wickets in four Tests against Bangladesh.

Ranatunga said Warne's argument against his rivals did not stand up. "Warne takes a lot of wickets against England, South Africa and New Zealand who generally don't play spin all that well," he said. "But take a look at his record against the Indians who play spin best. I am not lying, check the statistics and judge for yourself and you would know who the better spinner is."

Warne has taken 172 wickets against England, 107 against South Africa and 103 against New Zealand. But he has managed only 43 against the Indians at a poor average of 47.19. "He also gets a lot of tail-end wickets and I have always said that he's an overrated bowler," Ranatunga said. "Question marks will always hover around Warne's performances. After all, he is the one and only Test cricketer banned from the game for taking drugs.

"Can Warne be a role model for any youngster?. How many controversies has he been part of? Warne can never be a role model and I don't want any Sri Lankan youngsters to follow him as a role model."