“When I first saw Sachin, he was 21, but looked about 10″: Shane Warne recalled his first ever encounter with Sachin Tendulkar

Shane Warne recalled his first-ever encounter with Sachin Tendulkar, he said that Sachin looked much younger than his actual age.

Shane Warne is arguably one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He was the first bowler in the world to claim 700 test wickets. He ended his career with 708 test wickets, whereas he has 293 ODI wickets under his belt. Warne also bowled the “Ball of the Century” in the 1993 Ashes.

Apart from his on-field records, Warne has had a lot of controversies throughout his career. He failed the drug test ahead of the 2003 World Cup. Warne even passed on the critical information to a bookmaker about the game. He has also been in a rift with Arjuna Ranatunga and Steve Waugh.  Despite all the off-field controversies, Shane Warne is hugely admired in the cricketing circuit.

Shane Warne recalls his first meet with Sachin Tendulkar

In 2020, while commentating on the England vs Pakistan test, Shane Warne recalled his first encounter with Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin Tendulkar made his debut three years prior to Warne, but their rivalry continued till the very end of their career. Warne said that when he faced Sachin for the first time, he was 21, but he looked like 10. Shane Warne said that Sachin was a “very special” player, and he was smashing the Aussies all over the park.

“When I first saw Sachin Tendulkar in the first Test, he was 21. But looked about 10. I thought this guy was pretty special,” Warne said.

“He’s smacking us all over the park and he’s 10 years of age. You can tell when players come out and it’s the time they’ve got. That’s the class about them. You can tell that about good players… the time, elegance… it all looks easy.”

Shane Warne further added that Sachin Tendulkar was an expert in sending the bad balls for boundaries. He did not use to hit the ball to the fielders, but he was fluent in finding the gaps.

“The good players, if they get a good ball to score off, they don’t hit the fielder, they find the gaps, hit it to the boundary and that puts pressure back on the bowler,” Warne added.

“That means as a batsman, you can get more bad balls. If you’re just looking to survive and you haven’t got that intent as a batsman as a bowler you feel like you can bowl wherever you want and the batsman is not going to hurt you.”

Sachin Warne and Sachin Tendulkar are two legends of cricket, and despite their rivalry, they share a mutual respect for each other.