Sachin Tendulkar played 'cat and mouse' with Shane Warne, not many could do that: Brett Lee
Former Australian pacer Brett Lee has claimed that batting great Sachin Tendulkar "played cat and mouse" with legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne throughout his career.
Warne, who was arguably the best leg-spinner to ever play the game, was considered an arch-nemesis of Tendulkar. Both players were top performers of their respective teams and they tried to get the best of each other every time they squared up.
Lee revealed how Tendulkar was able to tackle Warne almost every time and said the Little Master was dominant over the spin wizard.
“He used to advance down the wicket a few times and invited Warne to bowl a fraction too short. Sometimes, he would wait patiently on the back foot and play those beautiful shots. It was almost like he was playing cat and mouse with Warne and not many batsmen can play cat and mouse with Shane Warne because he’s so talented. But on days, Sachin Tendulkar was toying with Warne and that does not happen often,” Lee said on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected.
Lee also claimed that some of Warne's subtle variations were only picked by Tendulkar and the leggie hated it when he didn't get the prized wicket of Master Blaster.
"The way Sachin used to read bowlers out of their hand, the different technique he used to play different balls was pure class. There were times when Warne would try and get the trajectory a bit different through the air and sometimes, he would try and get a few balls to drop. Every time he would try the subtle variations, there was only Sachin who would pick them up. Warne would bamboozle other batsmen around the world, but Sachin would watch the hand much better than most of the other batsmen. Warne hated it, he would come back and say that he tried everything to get Sachin out, but he couldn’t,” he said.
The former Aussie also recalled his memory of getting Tendulkar's wicket at the age of 22 and said he didn't care about the match after that.
“I was 22 years when I got my first opportunity to play against the Little Master. I nicked him off and I thought I’m done. I didn’t care about a Test match since I was so happy to get Sachin Tendulkar out.”
