'Didn’t seem quite real': Ricky Ponting breaks down in tears as he pays tribute to Shane Warne - WATCH

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting broke down in tears while paying an emotional tribute to his former teammate and friend Shane Warne. Warne passed away on Friday (March 04) aged 52 after suffering a heart attack in Thailand. The news of his tragic demise sent shockwaves across the cricketing fraternity with several former and current cricketers expressing their condolences.

Ponting was seen choking while speaking about Warne, with whom he shared the Australian dressing room for several years. The duo was an integral part of Australia's tremendous success across formats in the late 90s and the early 2000s. Both Warne and Ponting won several matches and tournaments together for their country.

Ponting was in tears as he remembered the legendary spinner and said he was as shocked at the news of Warne's demise as the rest of the world. The former Aussie skipper said the shocking news didn't seem real to him at the time it emerged and it has been hard for him to process it.

“I was shocked I think like probably the rest of the world. I mean I’ve got the messages when I woke up this morning. I went to bed last night knowing that I had to take my daughters for netball and then was confronted with what didn’t seem quite real at that time and even now probably doesn’t really seem like it’s real either so I’ve had a few hours now to digest it all and think about how a part of my life he was and reflect on a lot of those memories through the years," Ponting said in a video after breaking down in tears.

Hailing Warne as the most competitive bowler he played with, Ponting said the spin legend will go down as one of the greatest if not the greatest cricketer of all time. The former Aussie skipper captained Warne for the most part of his international career and the duo was part of Australia's 1999 World Cup-winning squad.

“Halfway through my career when we turned up to do coaching clinics and whatever else, every young kid in Australia wanted to be more than one of the bold leg spinners. He is going to down as one of the all-time greats of the game if not one the greatest. I’ve never played with a more better and competitive bowler, someone who changed and revolutionised spin bowling back into," Ponting added in the video which has gone viral.

Warne made his international debut for Australia in January 1992 and went on to become one of the greatest spinners to have graced the game. He was the first man to accomplish the milestone of 600 and 700 Test wickets before finishing his career with 708 wickets from 145 Tests.

He also picked up 293 wickets in 194 ODIs and is the second-highest wicket-taker of all time in international cricket across all formats with a total of 10001 wickets to his name.