Shane Warne's list of 50 greatest cricketers continues to raise heckles with the leggie ranking Darren Lehmann higher than Steve Waugh in his third installment, which does not feature any Indian either.
Having already triggered debate with the first two installments his rankings, a nonchalant Warne on Thursday announced the list of players he rated from 21st to 30th, in which he ranked Lehmann 25th, just ahead of his former captain Waugh.
"The countdown gets closer to the nitty-gritty and the analysis of one of my former captains seems sure to ruffle a few feathers here and there," Warne said in his column for The Times.
His cryptic message for Waugh was "Steve, match-saving not enough."
So far, the Indian trio of Kapil Dev (40th), Ravi Shastri (42) and Dilip Vengsarkar (44) have made it to the Warne list.
Warne began with David Boon at 21, describing the "keg on legs" as a "wonderful player, a rock-solid citizen and outstanding fielder at bat-pad", followed by former Kiwi captain Martin Crowe.
"I played against Crowe early in my career and did not bowl to many more elegant batsmen in the years after he retired," Warne said.
At 23 came another Kiwi, Stephen Fleming, whom Warne described as "definitely the best captain I have played against".
The next three slots are occupied by his former teammates Brett Lee, Darren "Boof" Lehmann and Steve Waugh and here Warne made remarks that might invite more criticism.
Warne felt Lehmann "had the same qualities as Brian Lara in his pomp" and "it was a shame that he did not play more Tests".
In contrast, he felt match-winning was not enough for Waugh to merit higher rank and he claimed that the former captain thrived because he had inherited a good unit from his predecessor Mark Taylor.
"This may raise a few eyebrows. Yes, he [Waugh] scored a lot of runs, but to me he was a match-saver rather than a match-winner. That is why he is not higher.
"There were also times when he struggled against the short ball. But he had good all-round capabilities and was always reliable in the gully. Mark Taylor handed him a wonderful team," Warne reasoned.
South African duo of Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock share the 27th spot, followed by the Pakistani pair of Saeed Anwar and Mohammad Yousuf jointly at 28th.
Enigmatic Shoaib Akhtar is paired with former Australian pacer Craig McDermott at 29, while maverick England batsman Kevin Pietersen -- who, Warne feels, has an "X-factor" -- is ranked 30th.
