VVS Laxman has played most of his international alongside Sachin Tendulkar and has known him for over 24 years now. On a Star Sports show called Cricket Connected, he spoke about the best battle he saw between Tendulkar and the legendary Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

In 1998, Tendulkar had anticipated that Warne would bowl to him into the rough patch on the pitch from around the wicket. He had practiced against the strategy before the game with the help of some local leg-spinners including cricketer-turned-commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan.

However, he got out cheaply to Warne in the first innings and was livid with himself. VVS Laxman tells the story of what happened after that.

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He said, “Sachin was really well prepared for the Test match in Chennai. In the first innings, he was dismissed for four runs. He hit a boundary and then tried to play a big shot over mid-on, hitting against the turn and was caught by Mark Taylor.”

“I remember Sachin locked himself in the physio's room and only came out after almost an hour. When he came out, we could see his eyes were red. I felt he was very emotional because he was unhappy in the manner he was dismissed,” he added.

However, nobody could ever keep the Master Blaster quiet for long. He slammed the Australians in the second innings and made a stroke-filled 155. India declared at 418/4 and went on to win the match.

Laxman continued, “Then, in the second innings, the way he blasted and hammered Shane Warne, who was bowling into the rough outside the leg stump. Warne was using the depth of the crease and when he used to pitch it up, Sachin used to hit it through the mid-off, mid-on region. He went on to get a hundred.”

“That battle with Shane Warne is the best I have seen,” he concluded. India won the match by 179 runs.