TeaHe played the first Test in the 1998 series between India and Australia in Chennai. India batted first and were expected to put up a big total in home conditions. The wickets were spin friendly and Warne did not have much of a reputation as a wicket-taker against India. The main reason for the loss of reputation was that of Sachin Tendulkar with him.
In the sultry heat of Chepauk, Sachin started in the same way and hit a four off Warne’s first ball. Critics thought that Australian captain Mark Taylor had again made a mistake by bringing in Warne too early in the attack against Tendulkar. As always, Tendulkar was in an aggressive mood against Warne. But Taylor had the last laugh as Tendulkar’s stay lasted only five balls. Warne hit a false stroke and Sachin was caught by the Australian captain himself. Twenty overs later, Warne again played a false stroke to Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin and caught him. Later, he caught Javagal Srinath and another Indian batsman in a span of four overs. Although Srinath’s wicket cannot be considered a prized possession, the fourth batsman was Rahul Dravid. Shane Warne finished three world-class batsmen with four wickets in a spell of 35 overs. India was limited to 257.
The next Test of the same series was played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. India then batted first and Warne clean bowled Navjot Sidhu and then did the same with Rahul Dravid. In the second innings, Warne took the wickets of two Indian openers Sidhu and Laxman and took five wickets in the match. Australia won this Test by eight wickets.
In the famous Test at Kolkata played in 2001, Warne bundled out India for 171 runs with the crucial wickets of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. India followed. And it is not Warne’s fault that the same two batsmen, who were dismissed cheaply in the first innings, played the innings of their lives in the second innings. Not only against Shane Warne, Laxman scored 281 and Rahul Dravid scored 180. Not even the great Glenn McGrath and the brilliant Jason Gillespie could make an impact on the two great Indian batsmen that day. It was not that Shane Warne bowled poorly. It’s just that he met two great batsmen who knocked him once in a lifetime in that match.
Hardly any side went on to win the match after being asked to follow-on. And it required a Superman effort for Warne’s talent to be able to dominate the spinner. Such was the class of VVS Laxman that day, that he repeatedly went to Warne and flicked the turning ball for four runs against spin. Dravid, on the other hand, repeatedly played inside-out strokes through cover. It was the highest-class batting. It would be foolish to say that Shane Warne bowled poorly. He came across just two exceptional batsmen who played the innings of their lifetime.
Three years later in a Test match in Chennai in 2004, Warne took six wickets in the first innings to deny India victory on their home soil. In the scorching heat of Chennai, Shane bowled 43 overs at an economy of less than three runs. In the next Test at Nagpur, Warne removed Laxman and Virender Sehwag to help Australia win the Test.
It is interesting to see Warne’s record on Asian wickets against teams other than India. In a Test match in Karachi in 1994, he picked Amir Sohail, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Rashid Latif in the first innings of the match. In the second innings, he took five wickets and shattered Pakistan’s middle order and took 8 wickets in the match. In the next Test in the same series at Lahore, Warne took nine wickets in the match. His dismissals included openers Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail and middle-order Ajaz Ahmed and Basit Ali.
The leg-spinner’s greatest performance in the subcontinent came in the three-Test series against Sri Lanka in 2004. The Sri Lankan team had excellent players like the flamboyant Sanath Jayasuriya and the solid Marvan Atapattu. The upper middle order had the class of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Mahela Jayawardene and the lower middle order had two Tillakaratnes in the form of Hasan and Dilshan. Then there was Samaraweera and Upul Chandana and finally Chaminda Vaas, all three of whom could bat.
It was a strong batting line-up at home, especially against spin. Against this batting order, Shane Warne took 10 wickets in the first Test to help Australia win by 197 runs. If that wasn’t enough, Warne repeated the same feat again and took 10 wickets in the second Test to guide Australia to a 27-run victory. In the last Test, Warne finished with 26 wickets in three Tests, taking six wickets. Warne helped Australia clean sweep the three-Test series away from home against a world-class batting line-up.
Shane Warne did not fail on the pitches of the subcontinent. He just ran into a great batting line-up against India, which included all-time greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag.
Kush Singh @singhkb is the founder of The Cricket Curry Tour Company. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Anurag Choubey)