Shane review: A delightful journey down memory lane-Entertainment News , Firstpost

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India versus Australia – January 1992. Two bowlers make their Test debut at the Sydney Cricket Ground – a wrist spinner for Australia and a pacer for India. In the first innings, the spinner takes just one wicket, conceding 150 runs as Ravi Shastri with a double century and young Sachin Tendulkar takes him to the cleaners. The pacer, on the other hand, dismisses the three top Australian batsmen, leaking just 45.

Their names are Shane Warne and Subroto Banerjee. In one of those strange twists of fate, Banerjee never gets to bowl another ball, while Warne goes on to find a place as the only bowler among Wisden’s Top 5 Cricketers of all time alongside Don Bradman, Garry Sobers, Jack Hobbs, and Vivian Richards.

This might well have been an appropriate chronological start to the latest cricket documentary on Amazon. But unsurprisingly, the director of Warne chose to go with the more iconic ‘Ball of the Century’ that got rid of Mike Gatting and kicked off Shane Warne’s journey to the land of legends. In the end, one must admit there could not have been a more appropriate choice.

Thanks to the pandemic, I have watched more sports documentaries and biopics over the past couple of years than ever before. Warne, I am pleased to say, would rank among the most enjoyable.

Warne candidly remarks towards the end: ‘I wasn’t perfect. I love loud music. I smoked. I drank. I bowled a bit of leg-spin. That was me.’ And that is precisely what makes this stand out – it’s honesty, largely….

Often in biopic-styled sports documentaries, there is a tendency to gloss over human frailties and glamorize sporting achievements. With Warne, in keeping with his attitude towards life, there is little of that.

Warne’s marital infidelity is addressed openly through interviews with his wife, children, and Warne himself. The poignant silences are a directorial triumph. Something very important is brought about by this which modern Indian cricket fans would do well to note about their sporting heroes – the fact that they are human.

The revelations about his affairs emerge as Warne waits in England before the start of the 2005 Ashes series for his wife to arrive and for them to begin a new life there. The decision had been taken, and arrangements were made before he left with the team. Within two weeks of her arrival in England, their marriage was over and she had flown back with the kids. In the meantime, the series started, and Warne was expected to help Australia retain the urn for the ninth straight time.

There follows a sensitive treatment of what it takes to be a resilient and focused Elite athlete, giving his all on the field for his nation under public scrutiny, while dealing with his personal life off it. It is a lesson that goes well beyond sport.

All-day long the Barmy Army chants: ‘Where’s your missus’ gone? Far far away.’ Unfazed, Warne bowls his heart out, and does everything but guide Australia to a series win against one of the strongest England sides in living memory. Every single night, he sits alone in his hotel room, emptying the mini bar after speaking to his kids back home, only picking up the phone occasionally to chat with his mate Michael Clarke in the next room.

On the betting scandals he was associated with, there is a bit more of a reluctance to be brutally honest. While his reporting of Saleem Malik in Pakistan is well covered, less dwelt upon is his flirtation with Indian bookies that got him fined.

The on-field footage is unsurprisingly a cricket lover’s delight. Sadly, perhaps given the BCCI’s reluctance to license any visuals it owns, matches in India are noticeably missing. But for the younger generation of Indian fans who only know and often denigrate Warne as a commentator, the stunning visuals of dismissals that demonstrate what made Shane Warne arguably the greatest leg-spinner the world has known, will be a huge revelation.

And for young spinners the world over, a few minutes listening to Warne talk with passion about the art of leg-spin, and demonstrate the grip and the movement that goes into each of the variations, will be an education few coaches can give them.

To understand why a documentary on Shane Warne works far better than any biopic possibly could, it is worth quoting just a couple of the many insightful comments in Warne:

Ian Botham: ‘He revolutionised Test cricket. He was box-office. He took the game by the scruff of the neck.’

Ian Chappell: ‘Warney was a psychologist as well as a leg spinner.’

Warne sums it up best when he says: ‘I wanted to make every ball an event.’ As someone who watched Warne live this philosophy through his 14-year long career starting with his debut Test, I couldn’t agree more. Warne himself was the event.

When Shane Warne got the ball in his hand, everyone in the stadium – any stadium, sat up in anticipation. Anything could happen, and it usually did.

Warne was a master of the craft that he practiced, turning the ball viciously, flighting it fearlessly and off the pitch making it do tricks batsmen could scarcely believe. And between deliveries he would sledge, he would grandstand, he would create drama where none existed. In the end, the batsman was made to feel a bemused extra, as he made his way off Warne’s stage.

For the generation that was privileged to see him perform live, Warne will be a delightful journey down memory lane. And for the millions who were deprived of the pleasure the first time around, tuning in to this documentary will be the best 90-minutes they are likely to spend in front of their streaming medium.

Shane is streaming on Amazon Prime.

Anindya Dutta is a sports columnist and author of six bestselling books, including Wizards: The Story of Indian Spin Bowling and Advantage India: The Story of Indian Tennis. He tweets @cric_writer.