Shane Warne talks about differences with Sachin Tendulkar

Shane Warne talks about differences with Sachin Tendulkar: In his newly-released autobiography, Warne spoke about the Master Blaster.

Two of the absolute greats that the game of cricket has produced, former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne and former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar were at odds over the execution of Cricket All Stars, an exhibition T20 series which was played in the United States in 2015.

It is worth mentioning that the tournament incorporated some of the all-time legends of the game, who played a three-match T20 series at three different venues in the state.

With Tendulkar and Warne at the helm, the tournament was conducted in a bid to promote the game in a new territory. In his newly-released autobiography named ‘No Spin’, Warne has disclosed as to how differences grew between him and Tendulkar regarding the implementation of the whole event.

“Sachin had this guy there, Sanjay, who was very much a mentor and business advisor. I explained my concept and gave them a slide show. They loved it and flew in a guy called Ben Sturner from America. Sachin was adamant that his team of people run the whole thing,” Warne mentioned in his book.

“I said, ‘Well it’s my idea. I know I can get the best players and I am prepared to go 50-50 with you. I suggest we pay experienced people to organise it and appoint two from each of our camps’”, he wrote in the book.

Sachin said, “No I have to have Sanjay and Ben.” “I was uneasy with that but remained sure Sachin and I together would make it work, so I agreed. At the next meeting, he brought a couple of other guys along who seemed efficient and on the ball.

“I figured, okay, I have known Sachin for 25 years and he’s done unbelievably well off the field, so he must have the business side of his life well organised. Relax and go with them,” Warne remembered.

That being said, Warne said he ended up ‘regretting’ his decision. “The organisation was not as it could, or should, have been, which was a real shame. They were decent guys but the event got too big for them,” he wrote.

Warne felt that Tendulkar’s team didn’t strike the deal well. “The truth is, if you ask me, that they didn’t do the pitch/ground deal quite right and fell foul of that old line of the devil being in the detail of the contract. This, along with other small and important aspect of a top level event… was all very last minute and not slick as I had wanted.”

Warne then pointed out the ‘Indian way’ to get things done, which as per his knowledge is delaying things as far as possible.

“I think it’s because Indians leave everything so late, which they can make work at home, but it’s not easy to pull off in someone else’s country. Each day felt like they were flying by the seat of their pants and I didn’t like that at all.

“Sachin got onto a guy called Raj, who, strangely, I knew a bit from poker and he came in at the very last moment, saving the day with his organizational skills and, most importantly, paying a heap of outstanding bills that helped us to go ahead,”Warne added.

The spin king also mentioned that Tendulkar took offence when he gave opinion about his team. “When we eventually met for a debrief, the first thing I said to Sachin was that size of the events overwhelmed a couple of his guys, Sanjay in particular and that we’d be better employing others for event management. He took offence at that, which was fair enough.

“I suggested, we find an independent agent while at the same time offering my own manager, James Erskine, as an option to broker it all, because he’d previous success staging events in the entertainment industry.”

“At the very least I said, let’s go with the two and two idea I had at the beginning.

“Sachin said, ‘No, it has to be my people’.”

Over the course of events, Warne had realised that a communication gap has built between him and Tendulkar.

“I rang him immediately but got nothing. In fact for a couple of months, he wouldn’t take my calls. I later found out he was under the impression that I was trying to do it without him but my instinct was to give him benefit of doubt on that one – there were a lot of jealous people out there, happy to turn us against each other, I thought.”

“One of the players told me he was actually signing with Sachin, which caught me off guard. I said, “that’s cool, he has the right to do exactly as he wants as do you. But it can’t be under the All Starsbanner – that’s mine,” Warne further added.

Apparently, only one season of the tournament was conducted.

Read some of the recent Twitter reactions on Warne below: