Shane Warne's top-five monumental performances

The game of cricket has been blessed with some greatest players who have managed to leave an everlasting impact upon the sport and inspired future generations.  

Australian spin-magician Shane Warne's name also sits among the elite group of those stalwarts — as he rewrote the record books through some intriguing performances during his illustrious career.

The art of leg-spin is considered as one of the toughest in the game but he excelled in that art exceptionally well. 

In a 17-year career, Warne was a real magician with the ball as he used to deliver some unbelievable balls which left even the world's top batters at that time like Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid, clueless.

Here at Geo Super, we take a look at the top five bowling performances of Warne both in Test matches and ODIs. 

1. The magical ball to England's Mike Gatting in 1993 Ashes Test

Being just a young rookie, it was the first Test of that series at the Old Trafford in Manchester where Warne got the ball and bowled a delivery that remains the highlight of his career and has also been labelled as ''Ball of the Century.''

It was a drifting delivery to England's experienced batter Gatting, that first pitched on the outside the leg-stump area, and got such sharp and unbelievable turn that it deceived the batter and went on to hit the top of off-stump. 

2. 18 wickets in three Test series tour of Pakistan in 1994 

Though Pakistan won the hard-fought series by 1-0, Warne made full use of the spin-friendly conditions of Pakistan as he picked up 18 wickets against the good batting line-up of Green Shirts. 

The first Test which Pakistan won by one wicket, saw Warne taking 8 wickets and he earned the man of the match award despite Aussies losing the game. 

And in the 3rd Test at Lahore, Warne picked six wickets in the first innings and three in the second as he displayed some great show of spin bowling.  

3. Sensational spell in 1999 World Cup semi-final against South Africa

The semi-final which is considered as one of the greatest games in the history of one-day cricket, saw Warne delivering a scintillating spell of 4-29 in 10 overs. 

Proteas needed 214 runs to win the game and were given a good 48-run start, but it was Warne who rose to the occasion for his team and brought them back with three crucial wickets in no time. 

He clean bowled openers Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs with absolute magical deliveries, and also removed the skipper Hansie Cronje for zero.

And when it looked like South Africa would romp home, he dismissed the well-set Jacques Kallis for 53, and the wickets continued to tumble after that and the match was tied and Aussies were through to final by the barest of all margins.   

4. 40 wickets in 2005 Ashes series in England

Regarded as one of the finest series in the history of Test match cricket as England outfoxed the mighty Australians by 2-1 after 19 years, but Warne took a colossal amount of 40 scalps in the five-match series. 

In the 2nd Test in Birmingham, England had a 99-run lead and was looking to pile up a huge target for Aussies, but once again the spin wizard Warne picked six wickets to roll them out for 182. 

And in the fourth Test as well which, England won by three wickets chasing a mere 129. Though they were going well, but Warne's four wickets made a match from nothing. 

5. Reaching the 700-wicket landmark at MCG

In the fourth Test of 2006-07 Ashes series at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Warne needed only one wicket to reach the staggering 700 scalps mark at his home ground.

And he did that with pure brilliance in front of a packed MCG in the Boxing Day Test as he became the first bowler in history to reach the 700 wickets milestone.

He bowled a classic leg-spin delivery to England's left-hander Andrew Strauss over the wicket that turned sharply back in towards the middle-stump area as the ball went on to hit the stumps with Strauss left clueless. 

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