FORMER Australian captain Steve Waugh has hailed Test cricket's greatest wicket-taker Shane Warne as a genius.

The Hampshire captain surpassed Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan's haul of 532 Test wickets in the match against India in Chennai last Friday.

Warne, 35, went on to take his tally to 536 in 114 Tests with a 6-125 haul as India amassed a first innings lead of 141.

After Australia were bowled out for 369 yesterday, India, 19-0 overnight, began today's final day needing 210 to level the series after Warne & Co had won the first Test in Bangalore.

Warne failed to follow his bowling performance with a batting display to remember yesterday - he lasted just two balls before succumbing to Anil Kumble.

The Indian spinner followed up his first innings 7-49 to take 6-130 and leave his country in the driving seat.

Waugh meanwhile, paid tribute to his fellow Australian legend - hailing his patience as his greatest strength.

"With his genius, the temptation must be to go at a million miles an hour to get the job done as quickly as possible," Waugh said.

"Instead he (Warne) prefers to plan and set up the batsman before executing the killer blow, often catching them off guard - like the flipper that bamboozled Alec Stewart in Brisbane (on the 1998-1999 Ashes tour).

"There are only a handful of players who can say that they have come out on level terms with him: Hansie Cronje, Sachin Tendulkar, Navjot Sidhu, Salim Malik, Brian Lara and Graham Gooch."

Warne's Test career started ignominiously as an unknown leg-spinner, who was put to the sword by India's Ravi Shastri on his Test debut at Sydney in 1991.

Two years later he bowled a bemused Mike Gatting at Old Trafford with 'the ball of the century' and announced himself as the best young leg-spinner in the world.

In the ensuing years Warne has become the greatest leg-spinner in history and was chosen as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the 20th Century.

Off-field scandals, serious injuries and a drugs ban have blunted his reputation as well as his effectiveness as a bowler.

Warne's flipper is rarely seen and he is unable to impart the same degree of spin that made him almost unplayable a decade ago.

But Waugh insists that his former teammate is "the ultimate wicket-taking machine" who will go down in history as one of the greatest cricketers of all time.

Waugh said: "Intuition and perceptiveness are two of his greatest strengths on the field.

"Mental toughness, plus the tenacity to play with injuries and put aside distractions has led to very few form slumps.

"I feel privileged to have been a part of his journey, and to have seen one of the greatest to ever lace a boot."