
The war of words between Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist has reached a flashpoint with the spin legend admitting that he is not on best of terms with his former teammate.
Though Warne admitted of the difference between the two, he said he had nothing personal against Gilchrist.
8220;Gilly is one of those nice people and is everyone8217;s friend. I suppose I am a bit of a rebel and speak my mind and do not sit on the fence, so we did not always see eye to eye.8221;
8220;To some that means we hate each other. Rubbish. Lots of us in the team at some stage or another did not always see eye to eye or agree, but you should always communicate and talk it through, which happens most of the time,8221; Warne added as he sought to clear the air on the much-talked about relationship.
Warne revealed that he sledged Gilchrist a number of times during their playing days but said the stumper never objected to the banter.
The legendary spinner also sought to set the record straight on the reported differences between the two after Gilchrist was handed the vice-captaincy of the team from Warne.
8220;Yes, Gilly took over as vice-captain. We spoke about it at the time, and standing at first slip next to him we spoke about lots of stuff. Again, no issue,8221; Warne wrote in his column for Daily Telegraph.
The flamboyant spinner said he never meant to belittle Gilchrist by giving him a rather low place in his list of top-50 cricketers.
8220;I ranked Gilly in my top 50 as the second-best wicketkeeper behind Ian Healy, out of all the people I played with and against, so it8217;s a tough call to say I did not rate him,8221; Warne clarified.
Warne maintained that Michael Clarke should be promoted to vice-captaincy of the Australian team as Gilchrist needs to be freed of the responsibility to prolong his Test career.
8220;Yes, I think Michael Clarke should be the permanent vice-captain and replace Gilly, because shortly Gilly will play only one form of the game and we want to prolong his Test career as long as possible,8221; he explained.
Hinting that the cold war between the two might have been a result of lack of communication, Warne said the situation could have been resolved with a chat.
8220;Unfortunately an aspect of the game that is up there with the dinosaurs extinct is taking someone out for a beer and resolving an issue,8221; he rued.
Warne said he was not bothered about the criticism directed at him after he rubbished ex-coach John Buchanan8217;s style of functioning and Australian approach to cricket.
8220;I am recently retired, I have an opinion on cricket and I am passionate about the game and would like to think that after my almost 20 years involved at first-class level, my opinion is exactly that a well-informed opinion,8221; he said.