IND vs AUS: Laxman Sivaramakrishnan Recalls His Training Sessions With Sachin Tendulkar For The Battle Against Shane Warne

Former India National Cricket Team leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has recalled his training sessions with the legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar, where he helped the batter to get ready for his battle against late Australia National Cricket Team legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne.

The Aussies are currently involved in a four-day training camp at the KSCA Ground in Alur, where several local spinners were called to help them prepare, including a Ravichandran Ashwin-like spinner, which has caused a buzz.

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Practising against a duplicate spinner takes one back to Tendulkar’s training sessions with Sivaramakrishnan at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai a week before the home series against Australia in March 1998. Notably, that series between India and Australia was built around the Tendulkar vs Shane Warne rivalry.

Meanwhile, Sivaramakrishnan went down memory lane and recalled his role in Tendulkar’s success against Warne during the Test series in 1998. He elaborated (as quoted by TOI):

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“Most people think about the exact purpose of those training sessions. I was never going to be replica of Shane Warne. But what worked for me was that I also had big leg-breaks. One can never replicate the other bowler.”

“Those were the days when you didn’t have video analysts and exposure to the wide range of videos like you have now. We spoke a lot. He gave me feedback from his experience of facing Warne. Sachin very vividly described the pace off the pitch that Warne could generate.

“Also, he gave me a clear picture of the variation of pace, trajectory and angles Warne used. That’s how observant Sachin was. I just tried to implement that.”

Sachin Tendulkar scratched the surface very hard and created the rough, The groundsman was not happy – Laxman Sivaramakrishnan

The 57-year-old further revealed that Tendulkar created the rough with the help of his newly-bought shoes to practice against the balls spinning from the rough. He elaborated (as quoted by TOI).

“Sachin had bought new shoes with sharp spikes. He scratched the surface very hard and created the rough. The groundsman was not happy with what we were planning. So, we decided we will use just one pitch for the week-long session. By the third or fourth day, the pitch became very tough to bat on.

“He wanted to grow a range of shots that would target anything from fine-leg to mid-wicket. So, he wanted the paddle sweep, the generic sweep and the slog sweep. Those days, there was just one sweep played by batters around the world. It was the hard sweep towards square-leg. Sachin thought of the paddle sweep, that also cut out the risks playing from the rough. He would bat for an hour. It’s not the quantity of practice but the quality of it that matters most,” he said.

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