I would say just how much I love him: Ricky Ponting breaks down as he recalls late Shane Warne

On Friday evening (March 04), the cricketing world became poorer with the loss of Shane Warne. The former leg spinnerpassed awayfollowing a suspected heart attack in Thailand.As pera brief statement given to Fox News by the ex-cricketer Warne'smanagement, the statement said, "Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived. The family requests privacy at this time and will provide further details in due course."

After Warne's shocking demise, the cricketing fraternity remains in a state of disbelief. The 52-year-old signed off from international cricket with a Test hat-trick, ODI World Cup medal (in 1999) and accounting for a total of 1,001 wickets at the highest level during his 15-year-long illustrious career for the Australian cricket team. During his international run, Warne played a lot alongside former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting.

Thus, Ponting was very close with Warne and recently broke down remembering his former teammate during a conversation with former English cricketer Isa Guha in the latest edition of The ICC Review.

"I woke up nice and early I was getting the kids ready to go to netball and Rianna (Ponting’s wife) looked at her phone and told me the news about Warney, "Punter told former Isa Guha.

He further asserted, "I grabbed the phone out of her hand to look at it, and I couldn’t believe it. It is still the same now. It was so raw for me that I couldn’t really speak, and every time I thought about him and our experiences and our journey together, I just got short of words. Even today, I have had the TV on watching the tributes, but every time I hear his voice I have to turn it off. It's been a tough couple of days, but it makes us a bit more aware of things we probably need to pay more attention to, and there is stuff there for all of us to learn. "

"I would say just how much I love him," Ponting said while breaking down on beingasked as to what he would say to Warne if he had the chance for one final chat. "I didn't say that to him, and I wish I had," added the ex-Aussie cricketer.

“His passion for the game and knowledge of the game is something to behold. He would have made a great coach. He has done a little bit of it in the Hundred, but having someone like Shane Warne to take over the England job would have done a terrific job. He is a huge loss to the world game. Whether he would have done some coaching or even just the way he talks about the insights he gives through his commentary, I think we are all going to miss that," Ponting concluded.

For the unversed, Warne was the first manto reach the 700-wicket clubin Test cricket. He completed the feat at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2006. As a result, theGreat Southern Stand at the MCG has been named after him in a bid to celebrate his legacy. Warne remains the second-highest wicket-taker in Test history with 708 scalps to his name in 145 matches. He was also a decent batter, with 13 international half-centuries, and led Rajasthan Royals (RR) to the title in the inaugural IPL edition (in 2008).