I was never scared of Tendulkar: Warne

London, Nov 23 (PTI) More than 10 years after saying that Sachin Tendulkar gave him nightmares, Australian spin legend Shane Warne now claims that he was never scared of the Indian batting maestro and his 1998 remarks were "no gospel".

Warne was at the receiving end of Tendulkar's batting
fury when Australia toured India in early 1998 and the retired
Australian had made the widely-reported comments that he saw
the Mumbaikar in his nightmares after the beating he got on
the field.

In his recently published book 'Shane Warne's Century',
Warne had named Tendulkar the number one batsman he has played
against ahead of West Indian Brian Lara.

"He never frightened me. I think I might have said 'I'm
going to have a few nightmares tonight' once and some
journalists took it as gospel, but I was never frightened of
anyone. And that's not me being big-headed, I was just
confident in my ability.

"Players like (Brian) Lara and Tendulkar were always a
challenge, because they were the best in the business and if
you want to compete at that level you've got to step up to the
mark. Of course some days they're going to smash you out of
the park and you congratulate them afterwards, but you're
going to get them next time," he told 'Sunday Observer'.

Warne, who was named by Observer Sports Monthly as the
Sportsman of 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award, however,
suggested that Tendulkar was better than Lara in terms of
entertainment value, number of matches he won for his team.

Ask what criteria did he use for including or excluding
players in his book, Warne said, "I went on the principle that
when I'm watching a sport I want to be entertained. So my
number one criteria was entertainment, two was what impact did
they have on me as a player, three was the impact they had on
the team -- could they win a match off their own bat -- and
then there was their skill and their spirit.

"I didn't look at their statistics too much. That wasn't
a guide, because stats can be accurate but misleading. A
match-winner can actually have quite a modest average overall.
And some players are just better to watch. That's why I put
Mark Waugh above Steve Waugh in the book, because if they were
both playing in separate grounds in town on the same day, I
know who I'd pay money to watch play."

The maverick spinner, who led Rajasthan Royals to the
Indian Premier League (IPL) crown, said he now expects more
salary from the franchise as it has become richer.

"The first year was amazing. I'm really looking forward
to going back and defending our title. No one can ever take
that away from us that we won the inaugural IPL. Off the last
ball! What an achievement. It was a fairytale. Especially for
all the younger players.

"I reckon I deserve a lot more now that we won it. The
franchise has tripled, maybe quadrupled in price. They've got
me cheap!"

Talking about coping with Indian food during IPL, Warne,
notoriously conservative with his diet, said, "The wonderful
people of Jaipur now make an amazing margherita pizza. I've
spoken to the chefs and they've got it down pat. So I'm a
lucky man. It's making me hungry thinking about it."

On any advice he would offer to just-retired Anil Kumble,
Warne said, "I spoke to him the other day, actually. He's a
very smart man, engineer by trade, and I'm sure, considering
everything he's achieved, there'll be plenty of doors open to
him in India and internationally. I sense he's weighing up his
options. He's a wonderful human being."

His 1993 'ball of the century' to dismiss Mike Gatting
still ranks his best delivery.

"Oh, for sure. Mike Gatting's in '93 is still probably
the best. Umpire Dickie Bird's was almost as funny. He
couldn't believe what he'd seen either. 'That was owt, yer've
gat ta gore.'"

And what is it going to take to get him to play for
Australia again?

"No chance, mate. My scriptwriter keeps telling me to do
it. He says it could be the final chapter. But I said: 'Mate,
you haven't got any pens left. There are no more scripts.
Let's just let it be.'" PTI PDS
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