Sydney, March 30 (IANS): Australian spin great Shane Warne has picked Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara as the two greatest batters to have played during his time on the field.
During the Instagram Live session with his fans he said, “There were these two guys, then there was daylight and after that, the rest of the batsmen came.”
Warne, 50, regarded as the greatest leg-spinner of all time, said while Tendulkar was an all condition batsman, Lara as an aggressive one for chasing big totals.
“If I have to choose any batsman to bat in any conditions, it is a real toss-up between Tendulkar and Lara, but I would just choose Tendulkar,” he said.
If we have to chase 400 runs on the last day, I would definitely pick Lara,” he added.
Tendulkar played 200 Tests and scored 15,921 runs with an average 53.78 while in 463 ODIs he amassed 18,426 runs with an average 44.83. He holds the record of scoring most runs in both formats.
On the other hand, Lara played 131 longest format games and scored 11,953 runs with an average of 52.88. In 299 ODIs he accumulated 10,405 runs including 19 centuries and 63 fifties.
Warne also said he believes former skipper Steve Waugh, counted among one of the most successful captains, was more of a match-saver than a match-winner when it came to Test cricket.
“Steve was more of a match saver than a match-winner,” Warner said about Waugh whom he included in his all-time Australian Test XI to be led by Allan Border.
Waugh played 168 Tests for Australia in which he scored 10927 runs, including 32 centuries and 50 fifties.
Announcing his team on Instagram Live, Warne further said: “I am only picking players that I played with that is why David Warner is not going to be a part of the side, he is one of the greatest Australian openers.”
Matthew Hayden and Michael Slater were picked as openers, followed by Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Border and Steve.
Adam Gilchrist was chosen to don the wicketkeeping gloves. Warne went with Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Bruce Reid, and Tim May as the fast bowlers. Merv Hughes was named as 12th man.
