Former Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne, the second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 708 wickets, named two batsmen who he loved playing against. Warne was one of the finest spinners of his era and it was tough to tackle his bowling.

But Warne agrees that Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, whom he calls the two of the best batsmen of all time, could easily smash him on their days. 

“I think, though, in my era of cricket, there were two players that stood out and that was Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. I think those two players were the best two batsmen of my time and two of the greatest batsmen that have ever played the game,” Warne told SportsKeeda in an interview.

“So I love bowling to those guys. You know, some days they’d smash me all over the park or most days, but some days I get them out too,” he added.

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The rivalry of Warne against Tendulkar and Lara was loved by fans and it's still discussed by the cricket pundits and enthusiasts of the game.

“I think the three of us, you know, myself, Brian and Sachin, you know, people called us the ‘Big 3’”, Warne said.

“But I think the three of us helped make cricket interesting, exciting and our battles over many years, you know, 20 years of playing against each other, I think people enjoyed. So hopefully that brought a lot of joy and entertainment to people", he added.

Warne had jokingly admitted that Sachin gave him nightmares after the famous 'desert storm' knock against Australia at Sharjah in 1998. 

(With Sportskeeda Inputs)