Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion, spoke about his friendship with the legendary leg-spinner and fellow Australian Shane Warne on Saturday.
During a media interaction, 57-year-old Cash, who is in Chennai as the coach of the Chinese world number 102 Qiang Wang for the WTA250 event, said, “I was just thinking about him the other day while coming to Chennai. Here, I know how popular he is.
World cup winner Warne passed away at the age of 52 years in Thailand in March this year.
Warne picked a total of 1001 international wickets. He was the captain of the Rajasthan Royals side that won the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008.
Cash shared that Warne was a good tennis player, too. “We played tennis like a couple of times over the years. He was a very good junior tennis player. I don’t think many people realised that he was one of the best in Victoria and could really play. He didn’t have much control because he didn’t play much, but boy could he hit it hard and of course, had a great serve as you can imagine from the way that he bowled, “ said the former world number four.
Cash said, “Shane and I used to catch up when we could. It was usually around Australian Open or Wimbledon for those Test matches or commentating. We hadn’t caught up for a couple of years, but were still texting regularly. And ironically, I got a text not long before he died, which was really, really sad.”
For Cash, Warne wasn’t just a friend but a superstar too. “I used to go on YouTube and just watch ‘Shane Warne best balls.’ It is really something to watch and shake your head and laugh. I’ve done it a few times since he’s died,” he said.
Cash praised Warne for his no-holding-back style of commentary. He said, “He was an absolutely fantastic commentator. He was right up there with, if not the best, one of the best. He said what he thought. That’s a rare thing these days with so much censorship. You know you had to say the right thing but Shane didn’t worry about that. I don’t either. And I liked that about him.”
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