Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar
Former Indian cricketer and a batting legend, Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday recalled his unforgettable rivalry with Shane Warne and revealed how he had once practiced facing deliveries from round the wicket to gear up for the encounter with the Aussie at home for a Test series.
Sachin, in conversation with BCCI.tv, was talking about facing Glenn McGrath, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, when he shifted focus to Warne, a rivalry every cricket fan of the 90s remembers. The former cricketer even pointed out the difference between Warner and the rest of the bowlers he faced. Sachin, hailing the Aussie as a 'world-class bowler', said that he always bowled with the intention to pick wickets and that was his weapon.
"I can never forget my rivalry with Warne. 1998 it started. And I had practiced playing Warne round the wicket because nobody had till then attacked. If somebody wanted to ball negative then the bowler would just come and bowl dot balls. But Warne was actually bowling to pick wickets. So that was one of his weapons, said Sachin.
I also remember that in a practice match I had scored a double hundred in Mumbai and Warne hadn't bowled a single ball round the wicket. And I said that at the crunch moment he will go round the wicket. Second innings, crunch moment and he went round the wicket. I had kind of practiced for that. Because against a world-class bowler, you cannot turn up and say okay I will play spontaneously whatever comes to my mind. I got to have options ready in your head and I had practiced for that," he added.
Well, Warner has dismissed Sachin only four times across formats - thrice in Tests and once in the ODI format - while averaging 54.25. It was Warne's compatriot Brett Lee who has dismissed Sachin most number of times in international cricket 14, followed by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralidharan.
