‘Warne was the only bowler who could trouble us. Sachin had a specific plan’: Tendulkar’s ex-coach recalls epic battle

The legendary battles between Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne will go down in cricketing folklore. The Goliath of batting vs the Goliath of batting came face to face for the first time in Warne’s Test debut at the SCG in 1992 but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the battle would become the cynosure of all eyes. Their duels in Sharjah, India and Australia were the stuff of legends. In 1998, when the Aussies landed on Indian soil to play a Test series, it was no longer about India vs Australia. Everyone dubbed it as Warne vs Tendulkar.

Tendulkar would go on to get the upper hand over Warne in what is still remembered fondly as Sachin’s series. But even before the Test series began, the first time Tendulkar and Warne collided at their peak was during a three-day game between Mumbai and the Australians. Tendulkar, captain of Mumbai, scored a double-century and led his team to a 10-wicket win, but it was his planning on tackling Warne which was acted as the icing on the cake.

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“Sachin had a specific plan in mind and he told all the players to attack Warne. On the Indian wickets, Warne was the only Aussie bowler, who could trouble our batsmen. So, instead of being defensive against him, Sachin advised the boys to be positive and to ensure that they were not done in by Warne’s reputation. I believe the manner in which Mumbai’s First-Class players defeated Australia in two-and-half days gave a lot of confidence to the Indian batsmen thereafter,” Balvinder Singh Sandhu, former Mumbai coach and India pacer, told Mid-Day.

And when it was finally time for the India vs Australia Border-Gavaskar series to begin, Tendulkar emerged as the Player of the Series. He scored 446 runs at an average of over 100, while Warne grabbed 10 wickets from three Tests, but the fact that the Master Blaster had decided to take the attack to the maestro of spin is what turned the course of the match, recalls Sandhu.

“The plan to attack Warne worked well as it not only benefited the Mumbai team but also the Indian team. The message for Team India’s senior batsmen was clear that if you attack Warne, you can prevent him from dominating you. It’s definitely one of the reasons Team India dominated the Test series,” he added.