Shane Warne has picked the best batsmen he bowled against and the Master himself seems to top the list. Here are Warne’s best from around the world.
In an interview with Sky Sports on his Facebook page, the Australian Leg Spinner and a Cricketing legend was asked to name the best batsmen he had played against in his brilliant career. The “King Of Spin” who had, in his early days as a player, admitted to have ‘nightmares’ about the Master Blaster, said in the interview that Tendulkar was indeed the best batsman he ever bowled to.
The Leggie went on to say Sachin was dominant over all kinds of bowlers and it shouldn’t be news to an Indian Cricket Fan or any cricket fan for that matter. On the other hand he went on to talk about another Indian Batsman who, according to Warne, was one of the most violent players against spin and used to whack them all around the park. This Indian was none other than Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had brilliant performances against Warne and Australia, especially at the ’98 Test series.
From the team against whom he had played the most number of test matches, England, Warne thought Graham Gooch was the best. Judging the length of the delivery early, reading the delivery out of the bowler’s hands and being a tough cricketer to play against was how Warne described the Second-highest run-getter of England, Graham Gooch.
Quite surprisingly enough, although admitting the qualities of probably the best all-rounder of all times Jaques Kallis, Shane went on to say Hansie Cronje was the best batsman he had bowled aginst from South Africa. Hansie was suspected of Match Fixing charges and had a lifetime Ban from International Cricket before losing his life to a Plane Crash in 2002. Neverethlees, the talent of Cronje was undoubted and admitted by Warne.
The comparison between Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar is age-old and according to the Australian, Lara was the best Left-hander of all time and the best he faced against the West Indies. From the Kiwis, Martin Crowe, the Player of The Tournament of the ’92 World Cup, whom Warne met only during a latter stage of The Black Cap’s Career, was the best according to him.
Saaed Anwar was Warne’s choice from Pakistan, whom some would say was one of the best batsmen to ever play the game. He played magnificently in the ’98-99 AAustralia’s Tour of Pakistan, scoring massive runs at an average of 96.66. The Sri Lankan great Aravinda Da Silva also featured on Warne’s List of the very best.
From the younger Test Playing Nations with the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, Shane Warne chose David Houghton and Mohammad Ashraful as the best he played against.
A Cricket Fan from the 90’s is bound to have fond memories of all these players in their prime and Warne recently refreshed them on his interview.
