It's often said that great men die twice, and while it is ineffably sad that Shane died so young, at least his on-field greatness was contained within that short life.
We were able to see everything, from beginning to end. Shane completed his sports life, and that is a good thing. The mysteries of his achievements will be pored over for generations to come, and I suspect will never be fully unraveled, either. In that respect, Shane, like all great men, will never die.
Arguably amongst the greatest bowlers ever to play the game, Shane redefined spin bowling like never before. Shane introduced a new style quotient to spin bowling with his famous walk-up to the crease and a superb action.
Not only did Shane generate tremendous spin off the pitch, but was also immensely accurate - a trait that is very tough for a leg-spinner to conquer.
Even as he went on to become one of Australia's most potent bowling options, Shane was no mug with the bat, and his aggressive batting did rescue his team plenty of times from pressure situations.
Although not having the perfect athletic body, Shane was as agile as they come and was a brilliant fielder, especially in the slip cordon where he snaffled up half-chances as well. Shane had lots of skills, but he was always surrounded by controversies that would make the frequent appearance in his career, but it never bothered him neither his on-field performances at all.
Shane made his international debut in 1992, in Test colors, and like most wrist spinners, found it difficult in his initiation. Shane had problems with his accuracy, although he had abundant talent. Shane proved that he was a quick learner and in the very next year rose up drastically, even producing what was called as the 'ball of the century' to Mike in the Ashes series.
A beautiful leg break that turned from well outside leg to clip the off bail even as the poor batsman offered no stroke.
Needless to say, Mike wasn't to be the only one to be bamboozled by Shane's bag of tricks.
Over the years, Shane was superb in both forms of the game and shane steadily kept adding new variations up his sleeve. All these came with the Shane stamp of accuracy, and that meant that poor batsmen had nowhere to go.
Although Shane enjoyed good success against all teams, he loved bowling against England and South Africa the most. 325 of his 708 Test scalps came against these two countries, and Shane did make a few bunnies out of their batsmen.
Only India probably played Shane better, especially due to Tendulkar who used to have a wood over the leg spinner ever since the 1998 series in India where Shane was smashed around the park.
However, very few batsmen could dominate Shane like that and that's a testimony to his greatness as a bowler. While his bowling in tests was instrumental to Australia's rise as a dominant unit, he was also a fine strike bowler in one day, playing key roles in the World Cup campaigns of 1996 and 1999.
His semifinal spell is still talked about as one of the best spells ever, while in the next edition, he bettered his performances and experienced World Cup glory for the first time.
Shane batting was quite underrated, he had a fairly good defensive game and also possessed a wide range of strokes as well from a stable base.
The result was shane contibuted with valuable runs down the order, especially when the wickets were down. Shane holds the record for the most Test runs without a century and add to this, his slip fielding which was exceptional.
Shane was also a smart tactician and was probably unlucky never to captain Australia, although that had a lot to do with the off-field dramas that he had gone through. As mentioned earlier, controversies went hand in hand with Shane's persona.
The 1994 incident which clamied shane involving with bookies and the drug scandal which shook the world in 2003 which removed him of a World Cup spot are the two big incidents that comes to mind. There were more issue in his career, but it never troubled him.
The 2003 incident probably dug a hole into Shane's one-day career, as he had got a one-year ban and could never really get going on his comeback.
However, shane continued to be a huge force in tests and managed to leave on a high note after the Ashes whitewash at home. After his retirement, Shane involved himself with the lucrative Indian Premier League, leading Rajasthan to a title in the first edition, and this once again proved the fact that he was an inspirational leader.
Shane played a vital role with Rajasthan till 2013 and then shane decided to television commentary. In 2018, life came a full circle for Shane as he got appointed as Rajasthan's coach in the Indian Premier League. Right from his starting days, Shane had always been superb and there was always an aura about whatever he did on the field or off the field. There might have been a few slip ups, but Shane would always be up there amongst the best cricketers to have graced the game.
And it wasn't just the bunch of embarrassed batsmen who were dancing to his tunes. It was all of us.
Shane had not just got the hapless batter.
That's why, it hurts so much. No wonder, you're left with a huge feeling of, "what happens from now?" No wonder we're all left with this big void. It's basically our collective realization that he'd become a huge part of all of us than we ever thought possible.
He did the same for cricket too. To the extent that the words Shane have become a part of the cricketing lexicon around the world. You don't need to say much more. Whether you were playing domestic cricket, or gully cricket in Bombay during the 1990s or you're umpiring an under-14 game in Adelaide in 2022, the reference point of a cricket ball that spin's is Shane.
And like with every era-defining artist before him, Shane's art shall remain immortal. Like they go, "it's a Rembrandt or a Van Gogh" while referring to the beautiful paintings even centuries after their creators have left; a leg-break that drifts towards a right-hand batsmen's leg-stump or away from the left-hand batsmen's off-stump, pitches and turns back sharply towards middle stump, you think as if attracted by a magnet, will be till the end of time.
There have been innumerable tributes flowing in from around the world from different facets of society in the last few hours. The ones that really tell you the impact that Shane had on leg-spin, what was in 1993 an art form in strife, the innumerable spinners in the last two decades who've spoken about having wanted to bowl spin solely because of him.
And there's not a single cricketer in the world, wannabe or otherwise, who can claim to have not had a go at the Shane action with or without a ball in hand since 1993.
"It fits perfectly," were Shane words as he put his Baggy Green on his head for the first time ever, as seen in a news clip about his Test debut against India at the SCG.
What also fit perfectly was his larger than life personality. And the fact that through all the trials and controversies off the field that surrounded his incredible feats on the field, Shane always seemed to stay the same, from the field to the commentary box to social media.
Forever irreverent, highly-opinionated and thriving on having the final word. So enchanting was he on the cricket field, the audacious strokeplay and excellent slip catching included, though that in those moments he had you so hooked that nothing else seemed to matter.
For all the ego he had as a bowler, and that was part of his dominance as the foremost practitioner of his craft, Shane gave back to cricket more selflessly than most others of his ilk.
Whether it was the number of young cricketers he influenced by putting over in India and England or the fact that he was forever brandishing new ideas or inventions, however outlandish at times, to enhance the sport that had given him so much.
If he was openly critical of some with the commentator's hat on, he would also display childlike excitement over a young talent, regardless of whether he was Australian or not.
If he saw a wrist spinner he liked, Shane would volunteer to help the youngster out by taking him under his wings.
Shane could also take a joke on himself like few celebrities of his stature do. He never minded living up to his caricature, either. Once during the 2017 Champions Trophy he was spotted in the media center elevator donning an England jersey.
When he was informed that not only was it outrageous but also didn't fit him, Shane simply laughed and agreed with you, blaming a lost bet with Sourav for his predicament. There was no air of "do you know who you are talking to?"
Nobody did more justice to the joy of living than Shane did. Come to think of it, no wonder he was forever in a hurry for those playing to "move the game on", as he became famous for saying on commentary.
And no wonder he would start getting restless about declarations and bowling changes.
That's what he did with his own life after all. How else could he have fit in the amount of life that everyone else might've in 90 years into the 52 he eventually lived for.
He came, he saw, he bamboozled. From start to finish. And right at the end, he did a Shane. He bowled us round our legs. And all we could do was like Mike stand in shock and awe with our mouths agape.
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