Shane Warne brands former Australian captain most selfish player of his time

Shane Warne was a legendary Australian wrist spinner, someone who revolutionized the art of spin bowling. Apart from being great at setting fields and bowling flippers, he was an expert in reading the batsman's mind, setting him up and knowing when to attack and when to defend. Many believe that he was the greatest captain Australia never had.

In his newly released autobiography "No Spin" Warne has put forth some serious allegations against his then captain, Steve Waugh. The fact that Waugh and Warne were never quite good friends was always known in the cricketing circle.

But the extent to which they had differences was always brushed under the carpet. Warne revealed in his autobiography that he never found comfort in the presence of Waugh.

Talking about his unpleasant experiences with him, Warne revealed how he was dropped from the Australian team during the 4th Test of the 1999 tour of West Indies.

Quoting from the book ;

"He became a completely different person when he took over as captain. It wasn't that he dropped me. I have no issue about being dropped if I'm not performing; if you don't perform, out you go. But there was more to it than my performances - I think it was jealousy. He started to niggle away, telling me to look at my diet and spend more time deciding what sort of person I wanted to be in my life, how to conduct myself - that sort of stuff.

"I was the vice-captain and bowling pretty ordinary and Tugga opened the selection meeting between the two of us and Geoff Marsh, the coach, by saying - Warney, I don't think you should play this next test."

After this incident, there always remained a grudge between Australia's finest captain and their finest spin bowler. Warne further expressed his disappointment on Waugh stating, "Disappointed is not a strong enough word. When the crunch came, Tugga didn't support me and I felt so totally let down by someone who I had supported big time and was also a good friend. I conducted myself badly, to be honest. I wasn't that supportive of the team, which I regret. Looking back, this was probably a combination of the shoulder issue still eating away at me and the pure anger bubbling inside at Steve's lack of trust.

"During the first three tests, at various times some of the bowlers came to me, grumbling about Tugga's captaincy and field placements and stuff. I said I was backing him to the hilt and if they had a problem with the captain they should go see him direct. Perhaps because of this, I was deeply disappointed that he didn't back me in return."