'I was very, very strong mentally and toughness that I had, and I was able to compartmentalise and no matter what was going on in my life was able to focus on my cricket.'
Shane Warne has had his share of problems on and off the field but would he call himself an anti-establishment man?
"No" he said emphatically.
In an exclusive interview with PTI, the legendary Australian leg-spinner was honest that he was never afraid to challenge authority.
"Not at all. I was never anti-establishment at all. If I disagreed with something, I would challenge that person. In case of coach John Buchanan, I challenged him and I was not afraid to challenge anyone."
"If I challenged John Buchanan about tactical aspects of the game, then it was also about the captain. I would challenge anyone and in our team and I would also expect to get challenged too."
"If someone wanted a different game plan, I was always open for suggestions. No matter what I would always try something new. If I disagreed with strategy or training method, I would challenge that. It was not anti-establishment but just that the way I thought about the game," Warne said.
I made mistakes but I was very strong mentally
It is only human to make mistakes but it is the tough times in which an individual's character comes through and that's one aspect where Warne feels that his mental toughness worked wonders.
"It's easy to get through life if everything goes great but it's about how you handle tough times. And I am very proud of how I responded to the tough times, whether it was cricket when we lost to the West Indies by one run in a Test match or in personal life."
"You never know people could be going through some real tough times but you still have to go out there and perform. I had to do that too and that was quite tough at times and that's where the mental side of the game comes in."
Warne said that he was mentally strong.
"I was very, very strong mentally and toughness that I had, and I was able to compartmentalise and no matter what was going on in my life was able to focus on my cricket," he said.
In one word to describe me? Down to Earth, super-competitive
Was Shane Warne a flawed genius? He starts laughing. "There are lots of positives about my life, lot of positives about my personality and negatives as well but isn't that true for everyone?"
"If I have to sum up myself, then I would call myself, "Down to earth", honest, and super competitive, and on the cricket field I showed that," he concluded.
