Shane Warne would pick an Indian player to bat for his life

Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne is never sway from the headlines. Recently, he stole the limelight with his autobiography ‘No Spin’ in which he made a number of revelations – both on and off the field. However, though he spoke about controversies in the Australian cricket team and his family and relationships, the legend refused to pass a verdict on the best batsman of his generation – Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara.

Warne had a rivalry with both the top batsmen of his era and the cricketing world enjoyed them to the hilt. He had special encounters with Tendulkar who he met in a full-fledged series for the first time since the 1991-92 series Down Under in which the former made his debut. He got a taste of the Master Blaster’s batting capacity in the warm-up game that Australia played against Mumbai in which the latter belted an unbeaten double century.

Warne’s forgettable 1998 tour of India

Shane Warne then claimed Tendulkar for just four in the first innings of the first Test in Chennai but the batting maestro was in no mood to spare the spinner in the second innings, smashing him all over en route to his 155 not out in just four hours. The hammering had continued in the subsequent one-day tournament in Sharjah and Warne had even come up with a confession that he saw Tendulkar belting him even in his dreams.

“Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, easily, were the best batsmen of our generation, my time. If I want someone to score a hundred on the final day of the Test series, I would send Lara. But if I want someone to bat for my life day in, day out, I would send Tendulkar, he was a class act,” the legend who has 708 Test wickets told NDTV.

Warne had an ordinary record against India when compared to his overall career figures. In 14 Tests against India, the leggie managed to get only 43 wickets at an average of 47-plus (his career average is 25.41), an economy of 3.10 (his career average is 2.65) and a strike rate of 91-plus (his career average is 57.49). He could take only one five-wicket haul against India, which again showed how much had he struggled against the Asian powerhouse.

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