Legendary Battles: Sachin Tendulkar vs Shane Warne
Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar are two of the best players to grace the gentleman’s game. Almost all of the batting records in Test matches and ODIs belong to the Little Master. Sachin has 15291 runs at an average of 53.78 alongside 51 tons in 200 Test matches, including the highest of 241 not out. He played in 463 ODIs and amassed 18426 runs at an average of 44.83 with 49 tons. He was the first player ever to score a double century in One Day Internationals. Leg-spinner Shane Warne acquired 293 ODI wickets in 194 games and 708 Test wickets in 145 games. Aussie great is regarded as the greatest leg spinners of all times. He could bamboozle batsman at will even on the flattest surfaces.
An Epic face-off
Warne has over 1000 international wickets to his name, whereas, Tendulkar has more than 34000 runs across all formats. Hence, this makes up for an epic face-off. Both players have faced each other in 29 international matches. Warne could get the master blaster out only four times.
Aussie legend was an aggressive spin bowler, and Sachin Tendulkar was an exceptional batsman. Warne perplexed batsmen all over the world, but Tendulkar, who excelled against spin bowlers, can legitimately be claimed to have outplayed Warne.
Here are a few memorable encounters of these titans.
1. Chennai 1998
In Chennai on March 1998, India and Australia faced each other in the Border Gavaskar Trophy’s inaugural test match. Indian batsmen could only get 257 on the board in first innings. Warne removed Sachin for only 4 runs.
Australia may have had visions of a rare victory on Indian soil as they batted and amassed 328 runs in reply to Indian 257. Therefore, gaining a comfortable lead of 71 runs. Sachin, however, had other thoughts. He scored an unbeaten 155 off 191 balls in the second innings. Needless to say, that he absolutely belted the Australian bowlers, including the mighty Warne.
2. Melbourne 1999
Australia batted first in the 2nd game of the series, scoring 405 runs in the opening innings. Nevertheless, India was all-out for 268 and handed Australians a 137-run lead in the 1st innings.
Tendulkar made 116 on 191 balls in the game. Australia set a target of 376 after scoring 208/5 in their 2nd innings. India could only score 195 in return. In a match where India was defeated by 180 runs, Tendulkar was declared Man of the Game. Warne claimed the prize scalp of Tendulkar in second innings, however, not before Tendulkar had added another 50 to his tally.
3. Kanpur 1998
India and Australia squared up in Kanpur for the fourth game of the triangular series a couple of months later. Australia’s 50 overs of batting first resulted in 222 runs, although they lost 9 wickets along the way.
In that game, Sachin Tendulkar was removed by Shane Warne, but only after Sachin had contributed to a brilliant chase that resulted in India prevailing by six wickets by scoring 100 off 89 balls.
Responses