The Australian wicketkeeping legend, Adam Gilchrist has come out and challenged Ricky Ponting’s take when the latter claimed South Africa’s Jacques Kallis as the greatest cricketer of all time. Gilchrist weighed in on the debate by claiming that his former teammate, Shane Warne was the greatest instead. Ponting reflected on Kallis’ all-around ability where he has amassed over 25000 runs and picked up 577 wickets with the ball across all three formats as well which is a rare feat, to say the least. But Gilchrist believes that numbers alone cannot be the only factor to determine the greatest player of all time. “I understand where Ricky is coming from—statistically, the runs, wickets, and catches—but there is more to it than just numbers,” Gilchrist said in an interview with news.com.au. “I personally think Shane Warne is the greatest to have played.” “For Warnie to achieve what he did, especially living the way he did and still managing to perform at that level, it shows he was a true champion,” Gilchrist said. “Beyond his bowling, he was also an incredible batsman. He just left way too many runs out there when he played. I don’t even think he knew his own batting talent. When it comes down to pure cricketing genius—batting, bowling, catching, and tactical brilliance—Warnie is No.1 for me”. Gilchrist’s comments come at a time when Australia has been dominating the longest format. This has led to rival supporters, the Barmy Army, accusing the Aussies of stat-padding by picking weaker opponents to go big against. The Barmy Army’s post, “Keep stat-padding, Aussies,” implied that Australia was playing against a Sri Lankan side ranked below them to make their numbers look better. However, Gilchrist was quick to fire back. But Gilchrist hit back by saying that should Australia win the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, that would put the English supports in a spot of bother. “It’ll be interesting to see what excuse they come up with if Australia lifts the World Test championship title at Lord’s in June,” he quipped. “I bet they will struggle with that one. I absolutely can’t wait for that and the rivalry of the Ashes next year.” (with IANS Inputs)