Ahead of Warne's state funeral, Tendulkar pays tribute to the 'fierce competitor'

It came as a shock when legendary former Australian spin great Shane Warne passed away earlier this month. He was holidaying in Thailand when he suffered a heart attack. As his state funeral will be held in front of a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), legendary former Indian Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar has paid tribute.

Warne was 52 when he breathed his last. Tendulkar attributed him by calling him a "fierce competitor". At the same time, the Indian prepared different against him since the Australian was a great player of mind games, which was also reflected in his body language. He recalled his first clash against Warne in 1998 and admitted that he was under pressure due to the hype created as 'Tendulkar vs Warne'.

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"That following is going to put you under pressure. When you are playing a world-class bowler like him, you can't turn up and hope that things will be okay. So, I had to prepare properly, not just at the nets. Still, when you're sitting in the room, you have to be a step ahead of him, what he would be thinking because he was outstanding in putting pressure and playing mind games and trying to plan your dismissal," he was heard saying on his official 100MB app.

"It didn't matter. You looked at his body language. One didn't know whether Warne had picked up four wickets, five wickets, or he was bowling wicketless. Every delivery that he bowled, he was a fierce competitor. So, even if you're facing the second last over of the day, one had to keep their eyes open because he was always up to something and trying to figure out how could he be dismissed," added Tendulkar.

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Although Tendulkar distinguished other great spinners globally, he termed Warne "different". He identified that the Australian was difficult to be hit while the ball was on the rise, while one had to play to the pitch of the ball. He credited how Warne drifted and moved the ball away from the batter.

"I had to also practice. Because till then, nobody had bowled round the wicket in the rough, trying to get you out. It was usually bowled to keep things under control. Suppose the batter was scoring runs to slow him down, but Shane was looking to get the batter out. So, one had to prepare the defensive and attacking options," concluded Tendulkar.