Shane Warne once said to Ganguly 'these 40000 people haven't come here to see you block, but to watch Sachin play shots'
As we celebrate the life of Shane Warne following the Australia cricket great's untimely passing due to a suspected heart attack on Friday, several legends have shared certain unforgettable anecdotes from the spin icon's career.
As we celebrate the life of Shane Warne following the Australia cricket great’s untimely passing due to a suspected heart attack on Friday, several legends have shared certain unforgettable anecdotes from the spin icon's career. Warne was magic. He was theatre. He was a blockbuster. The term pure-entertainer is one that is often loosely used in cricket writing but with Warne, it was absolutely true. He was a crowd puller like no one else. They didn't call him the King of Spin for no reason. (Also Read: Ponting reveals three words he regrets not saying to Warne before his death)
To be honest, even Warne wouldn't have wanted to face himself. That's how good he was. Unlike most Australian cricketers, Warne wouldn't sledge the opposition much, but would mostly try and get inside their skin to throw them off guard. One such incident happened with former India captain Sourav Ganguly during the 1999 India vs Australia Test match in Adelaide.
"To give you a classic example. Australia were playing India at the Adelaide Oval, and Shane had come round the wicket bowling to Ganguly. Now, Tendulkar was at the non-striker's end. So Shane bowled three or four balls wide into the footmarks – some of them didn't hit the footmarks so they didn't come back as much, and Ganguly was just kicking them away," Australia great Ian Chappell said in the documentary 'Shane'.
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"And after three or four of these, Shane said 'Hey mate, these 40,000 people here haven’t come here to see you block and kicking the ball, they have come to watch this bloke Sachin play shots.' And about an over later, Ganguly ran down the track trying to hit him down the ground and he was out stumped."
The Adelaide game was the first match of the infamous three-match Test series in which India were drubbed 0-3. Tendulkar and Ganguly had both scored half-centuries in India's first innings before falling to Warne. Tendulkar was out bat pad to a sharp catch taken at forward short leg by Justin Langer, while Ganguly got foxed by a top spinner as the ball stayed low after landing on the footmarks.