Tormented once, as Shane Warne says, by master-blaster Sachin
Tendulkar in nightmares, the legendary leg-spinner has finally found
words to express his admiration for the batsman.
A candid and insightful autobiography by Warne, which hit the stands
in Sydney, describes how he was "Tendul-corized" and hails the Indian
as "number one" in the game.
Amongst descriptions of the many memorable matches played against
almost all cricketing nations across the globe, Warne relates the
legendary on-field battles with Tendulkar and Brian Lara.
"Much has been made of my personal contest with Tendulkar," he writes.
"Some people have said that my duel with Tendulkar in India in 1997-98
was the most compelling Test cricket they have ever seen, but there is
no doubt he enjoyed the better of the exchanges.
"He has played me better than anybody. Most Indian batsmen pick the
length very quickly, even when it is flighted above the eyeline, but
Tendulkar moved into position even earlier than the likes of Mohammad
Azharuddin and Rahul Dravid."
The eulogy continues. "His footwork is immaculate. He would either go
right forward or all the way back and he has the confidence to go for
his strokes. I suppose I would be confident too if I batted as well as
Tendulkar."
The candid admissions seem to flow right from his heart as he says,
"Although my statistics in that series don't make happy reading, I am
still prepared to say it was a pleasure to bowl to him".
Warne even goes on to write: "Obviously, I never bowled to the Don,
but if he was consistently superior to Tendulkar then I am glad he was
an Australian."
On the loss in the Coca Cola Cup final in Sharjah, Warne says, "We
were once again Tendul-corized!"
He also talks of how ahead of the 1997-98 series against India while
he was recuperating in Australia, Sachin was practising intensively by
deliberately scuffing up an area outside leg stump in the nets to face
the Aussie wrist spinners.
"I suppose I should take it as a compliment that he felt he needed to
do that before he took Australia and me on. I have nothing but
admiration for the guy and as the series progressed he showed why he
is the number one."
The other Indian batsman who impressed Warne during the series was the
opener Navjot Singh Sidhu. "One batsman I never felt received the
credit he deserved during the series was Navjot Sidhu," he writes.
Among the spinners during 1990s who gave Warne most pleasure were Anil
Kumble and Mushtaq Ahmed. Warne writes, "If he was not a hero in India
already then Kumble set himself up for life when he took all 10
Pakistan wickets in an innings in Delhi in February 1999."
Kumble was always like an old buddy for Warne. "We would chat about
our methods. It is no different from a couple of used-car salesmen
bumping into each other. They will pass on a few tricks about
deceiving customers while we talk about deceiving batsmen.
"Kumble's strengths are his longevity and consistency.... He is a
thorough gentleman off the field but extremely competitive on the
field."
Warne talks at length about the match-fixing controversy while
pleading his innocence.
"I have never attempted to fix a game or any part of a game in my
life. I never would and never will. Nor have I knowingly received
money from a bookmaker.
"As far as the man I knew only as John is concerned, I was stupid and
naive to accept money. It didn't dawn on me that he might be involved
with trying to fix cricket matches. I thought he was a wealthy man who
liked to bet, who had won money on Australia in the past and wanted to
express his thanks. I took it at face value and thought he was telling
the truth."
"In hindsight I think it would have been better for all of us if the
Board had made it public straight away."
The news that Mark Waugh and Shane Warne had taken money from a bookie
broke after months of silence from the ACB in December 1998.
"In my heart I knew I had done nothing wrong. I would love John to
come forward to confirm my version of the story. In future, if I can
still help the cricket authorities to get to the bottom of anything
relating to corruption then I will be happy to assist," he writes.
He further writes: "Like Hansie Cronje, Mohammad Azharuddin was
another guy I never held under any suspicion, but who is said to have
been involved. I thought of him as a very polite, sensitive, quiet
person, who dressed extremely smartly away from the game.
"He was also a particularly high class batsman, capable of taking
batting to another level on his day."
Even while discussing Sharjah and charges of it being the hotbed of
corruption, Warne cannot help but allude to Tendulkar, albeit in a
humurous vein. "I have played in Sharjah, where investigations have
centred, and not to my knowledge, set eyes upon a bookmaker.
"I am afraid, like Sachin's straight drives, it all went over my
head!"
In Warne's opinion, match-fixing warrants a life ban and it is the
duty of every cricketer to pass on any information however small and
insignificant it might seem to the authorities.
But his own gambling habits are no hidden secrets. "I played blackjack
and roulette and bet on Aussie Rules, but never on cricket when I was
involved."
Warne, who made his Test debut against India in 1991-92, says, "Apart
from the pitches in India, the harsh conditions, heat and humidity
explain why so few sides come out on top.
"But I must say that food did not present quite the problem for me
that people might have imagined from some of the newspaper headlines
and pictures of tinned spaghetti and baked beans being shipped out
with the words 'To Shane Warne in India' plastered all over the
crates."
Warne is indignant about the Australian team being labelled as the
worst sledgers in the world. "Fast bowlers generally sledge out of
frustration. For some reason Australia have acquired the reputation of
being the worst sledgers in the world, but I think New Zealand should
hold that mantle.
"Compared to the Australian side I joined in the early 1990s, the team
of today is relatively quiet, even with McGrath in our ranks," he
writes.
And it was none other than Allan Border who taught Warne the
usefulness of sledging. "If things were not happening for me, he
(Border) suggested it was probably worth having a word with the
batsman - not for the sake of having a go, but to switch myself on for
the contest."
While Shane Warne may not have been included in Bradman's Dream Team,
he has been voted one of the five greatest cricketers of the twentieth
century along with Sir Donald Bradman, Gary Sobers, Vivian Richards
and Jack Hobbs.
In the book, Warne lists his own Dream Team and Tendulkar, who is the
only contemporary cricketer to find a place in Bradman's XI, figures
in both Rest of the World Test and one-day teams.