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20 years back, on this day - Tendulkar outwits Warne


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It's rare enough that in the middle of the fourth day a Test match is evenly poised. To then have one team's champion facing his opposite number with the game hanging by a thread is heaven for a cricket fan.

That's the way it happened in Chennai in 1998.

Sachin Tendulkar was facing Shane Warne with India and Australia both battling for supremacy. The defining moment came just after lunch, when Warne went round the wicket with Tendulkar having just passed his fifty.

In the lead up to the Test, Tendulkar had approached former Indian allrounder Ravi Shastri and asked for advice on what to do when Warne adopted this ploy. Shastri told Tendulkar: "You must find an attacking method to combat Warne when he comes round the wicket."

Tendulkar then spent four days in the nets with a spot outside leg stump scuffed and former Indian leggie L Sivaramakrishnan bowling round the wicket into the footmarks.

When Warne made his move round the wicket, Tendulkar took to his offerings like a kid offered a lolly-shop gift voucher. A brace of sixes and fours from lofted sweep/pull shots to the midwicket region convinced Warne to abort this tactic. Tendulkar's preparatory work had proved to be a masterstroke.

Tendulkar won the battle and India went on to win the war by 179, just a few runs in excess of the maestro's second innings contribution of 155 not out.

This was a battle of the champions to savour.

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/419065.html

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Mosher said:

Didn't Sachin smash Warne around in a warm-up game which Aussies had vs Mumbai before the test match? I think that onslaught set the template for the rest of series. 

Yep. Brief footage of that game in this video from the 2:00 min. mark. Predictably it's SRT smacking Warne over mid-wicket for a six :phehe:

 

 

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Such a lovely innings. The build up to the whole series was around Warne Vs Sachin and if I am not wrong Warne got sachin cheaply in first innings so in second innings pressure was on Sachin as the match was also evenly poised when he walked in. Sachin played a great knock and set the tone perfectly for rest of the series

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3 hours ago, Jimmy Cliff said:

Yep. Brief footage of that game in this video from the 2:00 min. mark. Predictably it's SRT smacking Warne over mid-wicket for a six :phehe:

 

 

Found a nice article about that match.

 

The atmosphere was a lot different 17 years ago when the Brabourne Stadium was preparing to play host to Australia’s warm-up match against a power-packed Mumbai outfit. It was February 1998, and CCI was agog with anticipation. Unlike now it wasn’t a pointless two-day affair, lacking in intensity and relevance, considering that it will see all 15 members from both squads getting involved at some point. It was instead an epic encounter that set up the series, not to forget the tantalising duel between Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne.

You ask Nilesh Kulkarni, who had just broken into the India Test team back then, about ‘that’ match and his first response is, “Oh wow!” before he recalls the buzz to have been akin to an international match despite the focus being on the Tendulkar v Warne battle.

“We were put up at the CCI itself, and whether we went for lunch or dinner, all the members would talk about is the Mumbai-Australia match. They would keep telling us, ‘this is a big match for Mumbai and India’ and you have to win it for the country’s sake. Even the practice sessions used to be witnessed by packed stands,” he says. “The Australian team was living in a hotel, so there wasn’t much interaction. Sachin and Warne actually met during practice once, and we all just stood watching the two in awe,” adds Kulkarni.

It was a period when under Mark Taylor Australia had commenced their journey towards becoming an indomitable force and they looked armed to pull off a major coup in defeating India on their own soil. That is, before Tendulkar destroyed Warne at CCI with a breath-taking 204 not out off 192 balls — his maiden first-class double ton — to establish the precedent for India pummelling the men from Down Under in the three-match Test series. But Mumbai had taken the fight to the Aussies much before Tendulkar even walked out to the crease.

Taking the Aussies head-on

“It was a power-packed Mumbai team with Sachin, Sanjay Manjrekar (in his last first-class match) and a bunch of us seasoned guys. Before we walked out to field on Day One, Sachin and Sanjay kept insisting that we have to take them head-on and never let them get on top. Our fast bowlers made that happen before Amit Pagnis jumped out his crease at Warne in his first spell,” recalls Kulkarni.

Pagnis, a pugnacious young opener still earning his grade for Mumbai, went after the Australian leg-spinning genius from the word go, smashing him for two fours over mid-on during his aggressive 50.

“He was sensational and by the time Sachin walked out to the crease, Brabourne was completely packed and the noise was crazy. He just took Warne apart, and we were just awe-struck. He never bowled around the wicket—like he would in the Tests—but still Sachin hit him for two slog-sweep sixes. It was a knock where he really started using that shot,” says Kulkarni.

The beanpole left-arm spinner would then all but seal the match by spinning out Australia for 135 in their second innings with figures of 5/23, despite finding out that he had been dropped from the Indian Test squad the same day. But it’s the scene at the ground that Kulkarni remembers most vividly.

“Even after Sachin left, the crowd stayed back and I don’t remember being cheered so wildly while playing for Mumbai. Every wicket created a din, especially after I got Ricky Ponting out for a second time in the match, and the Aussies were feeling the heat,” says Kulkarni.

Amid all these big names, there was the unassuming Rajesh Suttar, who was experiencing his most memorable day at cricket. His is a charming story of a boy who would leave home at 3.30 am from a small village to catch a train and travel 100 kms to Azad Maidan in Mumbai to play cricket. And if it was not for Sachin Tendulkar, he would not have played in that game. He was dropped from the Ranji team before that but two days before the start the Mumbai captain called Suttar aside for a chat. “Raju, aap na khulke maarna. Australia are No.1 team and they will try to show it, you don’t panic. Play your own game, if you want to hit the first ball, then hit, don’t think about it. Mein sambhal lega.”

And that’s exactly what Suttar did. By the time he walked out to the middle to meet Tendulkar, Mumbai were whistling along at 313 for 5. Suttar recalls Tendulkar not only putting him at ease but also remembers how he was awed by the legend’s predictions. “Almost every ball, he would say it would be a top-spinner, or this and that. He just knew what they were going to bowl. I started to go for my shots.”

‘Will kill you with gaze’

“The great memory from that game was that I hit Warne for five of my six fours. I also hit the offspinner Gavin Robertson for a six (seedha, sar ke upar!) but it was the fours against Warne that I am proud to recall even now. And best thing was Tendulkar had told me, ‘Khunnus dikhayega vo, aur ball aisa ghirayega, you just keep playing.’”

At one point Tendulkar had told him to watch out for the flipper and when it happened next ball as predicted, Suttar carved it away to the boundary. And just as Tendulkar had warned, Warne had started walking towards him. “He pushed up his left-sleeve with his right hand and said something like f***ing mate! And started staring. Tendulkar had told me that, “aankh mey aankh dalega and gaali dega, tum nazar hata dena, otherwise nazar sey hi maar dega! (He will fix his glare on you and abuse you, you avert his gaze, else he will kill you with his gaze only!) I was curious after all that and started to watch Warne — and his eyes did start to drill into mine, and I quickly turned my eyes away and walked away!”

Suttar also took three wickets in that game — two in the first innings in eight overs and one in the second. It’s the second-innings dismissal of Darren Lehmann that he recalls with a hearty chuckle. “Look, all my career people used to say I never really spun my deliveries much. And I still joke, in my lifetime I only spun one ball and that was the one I got Lehmann with! And he was stumped, jumping out at me.”

Like Kulkarni, Suttar recalls the full house in the stadium and the champagne that flowed in the dressing room after the victory.

“I’d come from a village called Chinchani in Tarapur which no-one had heard of, but I got to experience that great day in my cricketing life when I hit Warne for five fours, and batted with Tendulkar. I might not have played for India but that day was the closest I ever got to feeling what it could be like playing for India. What more can I ask for?”

Hopefully one of the 15 who turn up for BP XI, will have a Suttar story to tell in years to come, even if the two-day affair is not designed to be competitive or see the CCI reverberate with excitement.

http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/warmup-doesnt-warm-fans-up-like-it-did-in-1998/

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Like everything with Sachin ..this too is a extraordinary hype along with that Sharjah " storm legend " against a shitty Australian attack ( Tom Moody, Steve Waugh, Kasprowicz, Fleming...and shoulder operated half wit Warne)

 

Sidhu was the one that started destroying Warne before Sachin.  And anything that Sachin has done over the years against Warne or any other spinner - Sehwag has been his daddy.

 

Saqlain at his prime had Sachin's number and Sachin never really dominated Murali, only Warne he dominated. 

 

Sachin struggled to even thrash out Ashley Giles.

 

Every one of these bowlers Sehwag has destroyed. 

 

Remember how every single Indian batter struggled against Ajantha Mendis when he was knew - only Sehwag destroyed him - as usual.

 

It is insane how undue *ing credit Sachin gets...whereas people who have outdone him dont even get 5 % of the credit.

 

These are the same idiotic Sachin fans ..who get orgasms because Sachin hit a mediocre Zimbabwe seamer Olanga on Sharjah pattas. Such low *ing standards.

 

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1 hour ago, narenpande1 said:

Like everything with Sachin ..this too is a extraordinary hype along with that Sharjah " storm legend " against a shitty Australian attack ( Tom Moody, Steve Waugh, Kasprowicz, Fleming...and shoulder operated half wit Warne)

 

Sidhu was the one that started destroying Warne before Sachin.  And anything that Sachin has done over the years against Warne or any other spinner - Sehwag has been his daddy.

 

Saqlain at his prime had Sachin's number and Sachin never really dominated Murali, only Warne he dominated. 

 

Sachin struggled to even thrash out Ashley Giles.

 

Every one of these bowlers Sehwag has destroyed. 

 

Remember how every single Indian batter struggled against Ajantha Mendis when he was knew - only Sehwag destroyed him - as usual.

 

It is insane how undue *ing credit Sachin gets...whereas people who have outdone him dont even get 5 % of the credit.

 

These are the same idiotic Sachin fans ..who get orgasms because Sachin hit a mediocre Zimbabwe seamer Olanga on Sharjah pattas. Such low *ing standards.

 

And the reverse holds true as well... Sachin never went out of form in his life. It's just that he had that back surgery in 1999, tennis elbow , hairline fractures between 2000 till 2007.  Success of Saqlain McGrath counts zilch.

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23 minutes ago, Vk1 said:

And the reverse holds true as well... Sachin never went out of form in his life. It's just that he had that back surgery in 1999, tennis elbow , hairline fractures between 2000 till 2007.  Success of Saqlain McGrath counts zilch.

 

Other cricketers are human beings too..they too go through injuries, pain, family issues. Sachin is not the only one/

 

Mcgrath has OWNED Sachin in every big match, every big world cup. Sachin flourished against Australia when Mcgrath was missing, when Mcgrath played, he almost always got him in the big moments and Mcgrath has dominated Sachin entirely.

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2 hours ago, narenpande1 said:

 

Other cricketers are human beings too..they too go through injuries, pain, family issues. Sachin is not the only one/

 

Mcgrath has OWNED Sachin in every big match, every big world cup. Sachin flourished against Australia when Mcgrath was missing, when Mcgrath played, he almost always got him in the big moments and Mcgrath has dominated Sachin entirely.

Every big match? List all those matches. Which world cup was small? 

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Good old days! Remember watching this match with my father who was still alive then. Warne was such a big deal for India, the newspapers carried articles on his diet and I remember when the Aussie arrived in Jamshedpur, the chef of the local 5 star hotel was interviewed. He had made some special beans for him!

Sidhu is often forgotten but he had a big role to play too. 

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4 minutes ago, Rightarmfast said:

Good old days! Remember watching this match with my father who was still alive then. Warne was such a big deal for India, the newspapers carried articles on his diet and I remember when the Aussie arrived in Jamshedpur, the chef of the local 5 star hotel was interviewed. He had made some special beans for him!

Sidhu is often forgotten but he had a big role to play too. 

Yep. Back then it was a keenly anticipated contest between one of the best batsmen in the world and the best spinner in the world where SRT won comfortably and established himself as the best batsman in the world. Couple of decades down the line a few jaahils online will tell you that series doesn't count because McGrath didn't play :phehe:.

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In the lead up to the Test, Tendulkar had approached former Indian allrounder Ravi Shastri and asked for advice on what to do when Warne adopted this ploy. Shastri told Tendulkar: "You must find an attacking method to combat Warne when he comes round the wicket."

 

seriosuly doubt that .. shastri might have asked sachin to come down the track and defend it with a straight bat :rotfl: 

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1 hour ago, Jimmy Cliff said:

Yep. Back then it was a keenly anticipated contest between one of the best batsmen in the world and the best spinner in the world where SRT won comfortably and established himself as the best batsman in the world. Couple of decades down the line a few jaahils online will tell you that series doesn't count because McGrath didn't play :phehe:.

Had people watched the matches, they would know that  Kasprowitch wasnt a push over at all. I think he was joined by Damien Fleming who was a man possessed. So it wasnt as if the fast bowling deptt was bad.  

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