MELBOURNE, Oct 27: Legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne said on Monday there is no need for him to come out of retirement and he expects Australia to bounce back in their Test series in India.

Warne, who played his last Test in January 2007, said he was confident Ricky Ponting’s struggling side would make amends for their record 320-run defeat in the second Test in Mohali last week.

There has been a vacuum in Australia’s spinning stocks since the retirements of Warne and leg-spin rival Stuart MacGill, heightening speculation that Warne might consider making a comeback at the age of 39.

But Warne scotched suggestions he was contemplating a comeback with less than a year to the next Ashes series in England.

“I think Australia will bounce back, I think that really hurt them, that last Test match, and I’m sure they’ll fight back in the Aussie way,” Warne told reporters here on Monday.

He expected the team’s senior group, led by Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Matthew Hayden, would lead from the front and score more runs, starting in Wednesday’s third Test in New Delhi.

“Hopefully, they will win the toss and put some big runs on the board,” he said.

“I think it’s been a fantastic series so far and I’m sure the Aussies will fight back. But as far as I’m concerned, I am very happily retired.”

Warne launched an exhibition on Monday at Melbourne’s National Sports Museum which focuses on his career and also spoke about his latest book, a list of the 100 best cricketers he played either with or against.

Shane Warne’s Century is a who’s who of world cricket throughout the 1990s and 2000s, and left him with the exacting task of ranking the best players he saw.

The hardest decisions, he said, were choosing between Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara as number one, and finding space for adversary Arjuna Ranatunga.

“I found it really hard because I don’t like him too much and I didn’t like the way he played or the spirit in which he played,” he said of the former Sri Lankan captain, listed at number 93.

Tendulkar’s standing in the game eventually edged him past Lara, according to Warne.

“Given the expectations that are on his shoulders from a billion fans in India, the way he conducts himself on and off the field, the way he accepts umpire’s decisions and his skills and class over a long period of time makes him my choice.”

Warne said he will leave on Tuesday for England, where he will promote his book.—AFP