Most intelligent cricketer.

I could have answered with Sachin Tendulkar or MS Dhoni who are two very intelligent cricketers but I have already written enough on them, hence I will go with- Shane Warne.

Shane Warne, talented as he was, he was also one of the best at playing mind games and putting psychological pressure on the opposition. He built his image up in such a way that batsmen expected the ball to do a lot of things and in the process made mistakes and that in turn got him even more wickets. He had multiple names for some deliveries, he knew exactly whom to sledge and what to say to them. He was a master at working a batsman over, setting them up and had all the subtle tricks:

• Before the delivery, he went about setting the field animatedly and elaborately to suggest to the batsman that he had a clever plan to dismiss him.

• Then there were all the facial expressions and the body language as he looked on, smiled at the batsmen or even laughed mockingly at times.

• He appealed convincingly and when turned down, had a perfect ‘shocked’ face that could even make an umpire doubtful about the decision he had just made.

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Specific Instances:

1. Once in a game in IPL, Warne walked up to Gambhir and said, “Guess what, no one’s come here to watch you bat. Everyone wants to see Viru bat.” Gambhir started sledging back and later cut straight to point and got out. Now the sledging may not have got him but it planted a seed that he wanted to prove him wrong.
2. He liked calling opponents by different names like against Ian Bell, Warne kept calling him 'Sherminator' - a nerdy character from American Pie. It eventually got to Ian Bell and Warne was all over him. Link
3. He also knew when and how to slow down the game. Against Basit Ali, Warne was bowling the last ball of the day. He called up Healy for a chat which went like- “What are we going to do for dinner tonight, mate what do you feel like? Mexican? Italian?” After making an impatient Basit wait, he then bowled a magic ball which went in between his legs and hit the stumps.
4. Daryl Cullinan was known as Warne’s bunny, so much so that he had to seek the help of a psychologist for it. This came out in a newspaper interview and Warne read it. The next time they met, as soon as Daryl came out to bat, Warne asked him- “What colour was the couch?” Link
5. The impact of Warne on Cullinan can be gauged from the fact that when Cullinan played against New Zealand and carefully defended the first ball from Chris Harris, Adam Parore from behind the wicket spoke out, “WellBowled, Warnie.” Link

Shane Warne with his theatrics

A keen observer, Warne had also noticed that Gibbs had a habit of flicking the ball too early after catching and had advised his team-mates not to walk when it happened. That is exactly what took place when he dropped Steve Waugh’s famous catch in the 1999 game which cost them the World Cup! Link

Lastly, he was also a shrewd and intelligent captain. Ian Chappell has said that Warne could have been one of the best captains Australia ever had. He showed that by leading Rajasthan Royals- the weakest side on paper to a fairytale victory in the inaugural IPL.

Warne himself sums it up perfectly about his flair:

“Part of the art of bowling spin is to make the batsman think something special is happening when it is not.”