Never mind the caning Warne took from the Indian batsmen in the first two Tests -- the image that endures is of an older vintage. Specifically, of a stunned Mike Gatting, turned almost towards square leg, looking back over his shoulder at the ruin of his stumps.

The prodigious turn Warne got on that fabled delivery -- and which, it needs mentioning, he has produced time and again in course of the ongoing tour -- easily qualifies as his most lethal weapon.

The reason for that stupendous turn is easy to spot. Contemporary and rival Mushtaq Ahmed, by way of comparison, bowls with his arm fractionally away from body, depending on the arc of the delivery arm and the flexibility of wrist and fingers to get flight, loop and turn.

Warne's leg break, however, is more physical -- he tends to be a shade more side on than Mushie at the point of delivery, his arm coming closer to body and his pivot putting every ounce of his very obvious strength into his arm and wrist. It is this torque that helps him get the spectacular turn, even on the deadest of wickets, that is a Warne hallmark.

Warne adds to the uncertainity by varying the angle -- thus, when bowling over the wicket, he more often than not pitches outside leg, which means the ball, in the first three quarter of its progress is slanting away from the right-hander. And then, on pitching, it turns in sharply, reversing its line of travel. Warne varies this by pitching leg or leg and middle and turning it outside off, past the edge of the groping bat, or pitching off or just outside, flighting that fraction more, and inviting the drive which, given the turn, induces the edge.

Pretty much as a rule, batsmen have tended to play this delivery from the crease. Typically, they wait for the ball to land, then read the extent of turn off the pitch and stab at it with bat in front of the body -- which puts the close fielders (Warne typically has a short square leg, at times a short backward square, a silly point and a slip, crowding the bat) in business.

The Indian mastery of this delivery owes to two factors. The first is preparation -- thus, the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Azhar and Ganguly spent considerable time in the nets getting local leg spinners to pitch into simulated rough patches outside leg stump, turning the ball into them, and practised the power-packed pull, the glide and the paddle sweep by way of counter.

And that in turn leads to the second reason for the Indian success in countering Warne's leg break. When it pitches middle to middle and off, the batsmen are content to cover the line and let it spin dramatically past the bat. As Dravid said, "We don't necessarily panic because a ball turns a long way."

When the line is off to just outside, the likes of Azhar, Dravid, Sidhu and Tendulkar have been rocking onto the back foot, moving into the ball as it spins away, and playing the cut or the backfoot drive into the off.

When Warne varies his line to leg or outside, the paddle sweep or, when the line is short, the firm pull off the back foot is immediately employed.

By being both willing and able to hit against the spin -- something batsmen from England and South Africa appear reluctant, or unable, to attempt -- the Indians have nullified his main weapon and, in the process, diluted the aggression of his field settings.

I mean, when last did Warne need to bowl with sweepers both behind point and at midwicket?

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