Reliving Tendulkar v. Warne

[Mr. Wicket]

Right now (re-re-re-re)rewatching an old DVD of mine with an hour and a half of highlights from the first 2 days of the 98 Bangalore test between India/Aus, and then a good chunk of highlights from the Sharjah final a couple of months later. Tendulkar's batting vs. Warne is freaking unreal. Some of the shots he played - picking things from outside off stump and depositing them over mid on or mid wicket against the turn, or going inside out to a ball that pitched about two feet OUTSIDE leg and managing to connect reasonably well and hit over extra cover - are just unbelievable. I still maintain that at his best, he had hand-eye coordination, a range of shots and a fearlessness and will to dominate bowlers that put him out of the league of other batsmen. Yes, even Lara. Because Lara could occasionally get foxed by Warne's flipper. I've seen Lara beaten a number of times and occasionally dismissed when Warne suddenly dropped his length for the flipper and sent that lethal delivery skidding through. In the Sharjah game, when Warne sent a flipper down - Tendulkar simply leaned back, picked it up with a cross bat - an almost tennis-like forehand - and smashed it straight back over Warne's head for a two bounce four. Freaking unreal. (Mind you, that DVD has some of the most expert handling of Warne I've ever seen. From the Bangalore highlights, there's a moment when he fired in a flipper to Azharuddin who had first gone back to play on length. Ball skids through, Azhar doesn't care and just whips it from his knees in a flash of wrists and sends it to the midwicket fence. Da-yum.) [PS: Keep the discussion in here intelligent. Anything about durga poojas, worship and all that crap is going to be nuked.]

[Online]

Please seed :D

[ananthd]

I still think Lara's the better overall player of spin although Sachin plays leggies better..... Lara handled Murali quite superbly in his younger days.... Both have different approaches, Sachin tends to play off the wicket whereas Lara was twinkle toed and unafraid to come down..... It's a pick'em basically between the two players....

[Mr. Wicket]

"Both have different approaches, Sachin tends to play off the wicket whereas Lara was twinkle toed and unafraid to come down....." Believe me, if you saw some of this batting, you'd change your tune very quickly. Warne would bowl about two feet outside leg stump, daring Tendulkar to hit against the spin into a packed leg side with lots of dust/cracks in the rough - Tendulkar would just dance down the track towards leg then hit inside out and over the top a number of times. That's one of the great shots from the Sharjah game as well (although with Warne not bowling quite as wide). Warne flighting one way outside leg, Tendulkar jumping down and just dismissing it for a straight six with sheer contempt. I find Tendulkar a far more versatile player against spin, simply because he could use the depth of the crease brilliantly and play from the pitch even when he couldn't read the ball from the hand, or could jump down the wicket and hammer the spinners. And keep in mind that this is the guy who also made the slog sweep into a popular, percentage shot - he was the first to use it regularly in that 98 series to hit Warne sometimes but Robertson often with the spin into the stands at midwicket.

[Gambit]

The only time I've seen Warne get the better of Tendulkar was the '96 World Cup game at Wankhede. Tendulkar was overeager to smash Warne and wasn't reading him well at all. Despite that, he managed a few boundaries off him and didn't lose his wicket to Warne.

[Sachinism]

Please seed :D

Ditto Tendulkar in full flow is something special kinda like Aurora Borealis. I've seen some great vids of him vs Warne on youtube and dailymotion. Seeing him handle someone like Warne, a bowler who has terrorised batsmen all round the world, so easily is what makes him as great as he is.

[Shane]

Warne bashing at its best, we might have lost that Test in Bangalore but SRT certainly left some skidmarks on Warnie's arrrse, But what pleased me most about this series was after getting foxed in the first innings of the series at Chennai by Warne, i think Taylor caught him at slips, he responded with some vengance in the 2nd scoring 150 odd unbeaten, which i think set up the series and a marker in the SRT v/s Warne battle. 1998 was an incredible both for India and SRT !!!

[Mr. Wicket]

Gambit: Yup. Was watching that innings recently, and the method of that dismissal is SO painful - stumped off a really, really wide ball when trying to race along and smash Waugh out of the park. (Who was that again who said Tendulkar didn't come down the wicket to spinners?) On a digression, that game should have been won easily from the point Tendulkar departed - Australia were being pummeled, India had plenty of momentum and the required run rate wasn't too bad. Just a huge choke in the end after Tendulkar set things up with an amazing knock.

[ananthd]

No question who is more adaptable...... It's just that SRT's style is more towards playing from the crease.... Whereas BCL's strength was his feet(which he used very well).... In general, this is true of their batting styles: SRT has invented/patented more unorthodox shots than anyone I've seen: the ugly very fine- paddle, the magnificent back foot punch, the upper-cut above the slip-cordon etc.... But I've felt BCL is the better player of the traditional shots: the rasping on drive, that incredible pull shot(in general he was a better puller & cutter) and his driving on the offside and the step down lofted shots....

[Mr. Wicket]

In terms of driving I'd say Lara was better at driving and cutting through the off (although Tendulkar's back foot punches through cover to length balls are truly beautiful things to witness). But straight down the ground and through mid on Tendulkar is without peer. His straight drives are among the most stunning shots you can see - minimalist perfection at times when he's just appearing to punch it lightly and it races for four, other times just incredibly dominant batting when he's trying to go after bowlers and making an attempt to really hit them back down the ground/through mid on.

[Shane]

The only time I've seen Warne get the better of Tendulkar was the '96 World Cup game at Wankhede. Tendulkar was overeager to smash Warne and wasn't reading him well at all. Despite that' date=' he managed a few boundaries off him and didn't lose his wicket to Warne.[/quote'] He still scored 90 that night without much support, Manjrekar scratched around a bit, Warne was fantastic that night, didnt give away anything and i think picked up couple of wickets

[Cricketics]

Salil that series was a classic. Tendulkar was on fire. Real Tendulka in his twenties.Playing all those swep shots, cuts, pulls etc. then those dancing down the track shots against Warney were sight to behold. anychance, you got the tri series which took place between India, Aus, Zim rite before the tri series at sharjah?? AListar Campbell was on fire int hat series and batted beautifully in that series against INdia and Aus. And Jadeja got a ton too.

[Sachinism]

Salil that series was a classic. Tendulkar was on fire. Real Tendulka in his twenties.Playing all those swep shots, cuts, pulls etc. then those dancing down the track shots against Warney were sight to behold. anychance, you got the tri series which took place between India, Aus, Zim rite before the tri series at sharjah?? AListar Campbell was on fire int hat series and batted beautifully in that series against INdia and Aus. And Jadeja got a ton too.

Did you once upload a vid of that series where Laxman scores one of the classiest 100's you would ever see and 2 Zimbabweans score tons in their reply

[Mr. Wicket]

That was a different series Sachinism. Ticz is talking about the Pepsi/Hero Honda/some other random tri-series that followed the tests in 98. The Laxman hundred came in the 03/04 VB series after our tour there. That was a great game where Laxman tonned up. We'd lost a couple of early wickets, then he started playing some amazing shots (hitting two deliveries in the same spot once through cover and once through mid wicket in an over!) to get us a good target. Zimbabwe got incredibly close that game. Hell of a match. (Was it Sanjay Bangar who was the surprise last-over bowler and saved it for us?)

[Cricketics]

Did you once upload a vid of that series where Laxman scores one of the classiest 100's you would ever see and 2 Zimbabweans score tons in their reply

that series was vb series in which carlisle and ervine stun the whole crowd, and that happend in Australia during 04 vb series. I was there in the crowd that time. Salil got it rite.

[Cricketics]

Zimbabwe got incredibly close that game. Hell of a match. (Was it Sanjay Bangar who was the surprise last-over bowler and saved it for us?)

ya Salil, Ganguly calls Bangar and tell him to bowl whatever you bowl but don't bowl wide or anything. He ends up winning it for us. brilliant game. Carlisle and Ervine were fantastic.

[Guest Hiten.]

In the same series, when Lee won it for aussies by hitting a sixer to Bala (I think UV scored 139 in this very game)..I remember badani saying because of bala's complexion it was easy for Brett to pick up a white ball being released from a 'dark' hand that too at night :giggle: :hysterical:

[veeru_rocks]

Cud not agree more people confuse lara's belly dancing with class .. I have seen him falling flat on his face over-balancing against warne. Sachin never had this problme he exactly knows how much back and acorss to move . By the way lara too kept hitting muralitharan against the spin in similar fashion throughout the series. Murali wud a leg spinner for lara so I guess both are good against leg spin.. But sachin is as comfortable even against off spin..

[Shane]

Carlisle was slow to begin with ... but his innings caught pace in the end. Laxman that day was at his superlative best

[Guest Hiten.]

Salil that series was a classic. Tendulkar was on fire. Real Tendulka in his twenties.Playing all those swep shots, cuts, pulls etc. then those dancing down the track shots against Warney were sight to behold. anychance, you got the tri series which took place between India, Aus, Zim rite before the tri series at sharjah?? AListar Campbell was on fire int hat series and batted beautifully in that series against INdia and Aus. And Jadeja got a ton too.

Did you once upload a vid of that series where Laxman scores one of the classiest 100's you would ever see and 2 Zimbabweans score tons in their reply

In this entire series Jadeja remained not out and piled runs. Only time he got out was in the finals, which eventually India lost :giggle: http://stats.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/records/batting/most_runs_career.html?id=765;type=tournament When India lost the finals, I was so shocked (given how we played in the entire tournament) and fell for the lie that my friend told me. He said the final is best of 3 and I was relieved.... only to find out that Steve was lifting the god damn trophy :mad: :haha: ..I was only 12 then, so cut some slack :D