Melbourne, Jul 13: Australian spin legend Shane Warne has given a clean chit to Muttiah Muralitharan's action, saying he did not think the retiring Sri Lankan tweaker was a chucker.
"Murali's action has been passed by scientific tests ...
I always thought it was probably legitimate," Warne said.
"But because of the way he bowled, I was worried that young spinners would try to copy his action and end up bowling illegally," the Australian said of his one-time great competitor.
Muralitharan has already announced that he will quit the longer version of the game after the first Test against India starting Sunday at Galle.
And Warne said with the off-spinner's retirement world cricket will lose one of its great competitors.
"Murali simply loved bowling - he loved a challenge (and) was fantastic for the game," he told the Herald Sun.