da esport bet： Tormented once, as Shane Warne says, by master-blaster SachinTendulkar in nightmares, the legendary leg-spinner has finally foundwords to express his admiration for the batsman
da bwin： 24-Aug-2001Tormented once, as Shane Warne says, by master-blaster SachinTendulkar in nightmares, the legendary leg-spinner has finally foundwords to express his admiration for the batsman.A candid and insightful autobiography by Warne, which hit the standsin Sydney, describes how he was “Tendul-corized” and hails the Indianas “number one” in the game.Amongst descriptions of the many memorable matches played againstalmost all cricketing nations across the globe, Warne relates thelegendary 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 1997-98was the most compelling Test cricket they have ever seen, but there isno doubt he enjoyed the better of the exchanges.”He has played me better than anybody. Most Indian batsmen pick thelength very quickly, even when it is flighted above the eyeline, butTendulkar moved into position even earlier than the likes of MohammadAzharuddin and Rahul Dravid.”The eulogy continues. “His footwork is immaculate. He would either goright forward or all the way back and he has the confidence to go forhis strokes. I suppose I would be confident too if I batted as well asTendulkar.”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 amstill 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 wasan Australian.”On the loss in the Coca Cola Cup final in Sharjah, Warne says, “Wewere once again Tendul-corized!”He also talks of how ahead of the 1997-98 series against India whilehe was recuperating in Australia, Sachin was practising intensively bydeliberately scuffing up an area outside leg stump in the nets to facethe Aussie wrist spinners.”I suppose I should take it as a compliment that he felt he needed todo that before he took Australia and me on. I have nothing butadmiration for the guy and as the series progressed he showed why heis the number one.”The other Indian batsman who impressed Warne during the series was theopener Navjot Singh Sidhu. “One batsman I never felt received thecredit he deserved during the series was Navjot Sidhu,” he writes.Among the spinners during 1990s who gave Warne most pleasure were AnilKumble and Mushtaq Ahmed. Warne writes, “If he was not a hero in Indiaalready then Kumble set himself up for life when he took all 10Pakistan wickets in an innings in Delhi in February 1999.”Kumble was always like an old buddy for Warne. “We would chat aboutour methods. It is no different from a couple of used-car salesmenbumping into each other. They will pass on a few tricks aboutdeceiving customers while we talk about deceiving batsmen.”Kumble’s strengths are his longevity and consistency…. He is athorough gentleman off the field but extremely competitive on thefield.”Warne talks at length about the match-fixing controversy whilepleading his innocence.”I have never attempted to fix a game or any part of a game in mylife. I never would and never will. Nor have I knowingly receivedmoney from a bookmaker.”As far as the man I knew only as John is concerned, I was stupid andnaive to accept money. It didn’t dawn on me that he might be involvedwith trying to fix cricket matches. I thought he was a wealthy man wholiked to bet, who had won money on Australia in the past and wanted toexpress his thanks. I took it at face value and thought he was tellingthe truth.””In hindsight I think it would have been better for all of us if theBoard had made it public straight away.”The news that Mark Waugh and Shane Warne had taken money from a bookiebroke after months of silence from the ACB in December 1998.”In my heart I knew I had done nothing wrong. I would love John tocome forward to confirm my version of the story. In future, if I canstill help the cricket authorities to get to the bottom of anythingrelating to corruption then I will be happy to assist,” he writes.He further writes: “Like Hansie Cronje, Mohammad Azharuddin wasanother guy I never held under any suspicion, but who is said to havebeen involved. I thought of him as a very polite, sensitive, quietperson, who dressed extremely smartly away from the game.”He was also a particularly high class batsman, capable of takingbatting to another level on his day.”Even while discussing Sharjah and charges of it being the hotbed ofcorruption, Warne cannot help but allude to Tendulkar, albeit in ahumurous vein. “I have played in Sharjah, where investigations havecentred, and not to my knowledge, set eyes upon a bookmaker.”I am afraid, like Sachin’s straight drives, it all went over myhead!”In Warne’s opinion, match-fixing warrants a life ban and it is theduty of every cricketer to pass on any information however small andinsignificant it might seem to the authorities.But his own gambling habits are no hidden secrets. “I played blackjackand roulette and bet on Aussie Rules, but never on cricket when I wasinvolved.”Warne, who made his Test debut against India in 1991-92, says, “Apartfrom the pitches in India, the harsh conditions, heat and humidityexplain why so few sides come out on top.”But I must say that food did not present quite the problem for methat people might have imagined from some of the newspaper headlinesand pictures of tinned spaghetti and baked beans being shipped outwith the words ‘To Shane Warne in India’ plastered all over thecrates.”Warne is indignant about the Australian team being labelled as theworst sledgers in the world. “Fast bowlers generally sledge out offrustration. For some reason Australia have acquired the reputation ofbeing the worst sledgers in the world, but I think New Zealand shouldhold that mantle.”Compared to the Australian side I joined in the early 1990s, the teamof today is relatively quiet, even with McGrath in our ranks,” hewrites.And it was none other than Allan Border who taught Warne theusefulness of sledging. “If things were not happening for me, he(Border) suggested it was probably worth having a word with thebatsman – not for the sake of having a go, but to switch myself on forthe 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 twentiethcentury along with Sir Donald Bradman, Gary Sobers, Vivian Richardsand Jack Hobbs.In the book, Warne lists his own Dream Team and Tendulkar, who is theonly contemporary cricketer to find a place in Bradman’s XI, figuresin both Rest of the World Test and one-day teams.
