Sachin Tendulkar had to “prepare properly” to be one step ahead, while Brian Lara had to keep his “eyes open” in anticipation of the “miracle delivery” — that’s how two of the greatest cricketers ever to have picked up the bat doffed their hats to Shane Warne, their fierce adversary on the field and a good friend off it, ahead of Wednesday’s memorial service at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in honour of the deceased Australian.

Warne passed away due to a suspected heart attack on March 4 while holidaying in Thailand.

“My first proper series against Shane Warne was in 1998 in India and everyone tagged that series as Tendulkar versus Shane Warne clash. That kind of following is going to put you under pressure,” said Tendulkar.

“When you are playing a world class bowler like him, you just can’t turn up and hope that things are going to be okay. So I had to prepare properly, not just being out there at the nets, but also when you’re sitting in the room… you have to be a step ahead of him… because he was extremely good in putting pressure and playing mind games and trying to plan your dismissal.”

Tendulkar recollected how the legendary spinner used to give nothing away with his body language.

“It didn’t matter, you looked at his body language… One didn’t know whether Warne had picked up four wickets, five wickets or he was bowling wicketless. Every delivery that he bowled, he was a fierce competitor… he was always up to something and trying to figure out how could he dismissed.”

Going deeper into the technicalities, Tendulkar said: “(He was) one of those very few bowlers against whom you couldn’t hit the ball on the rise. He was someone if you did not get to the pitch of the ball, there was no way one was expected to go and drive on the rise. That was his class, the way he got the ball to drift, and that can only happen if you have strong shoulders and you’re giving it a rip, the ball drifts down the leg and then spinning away from you.

“I had to also practice because till then nobody had bowled round the wicket in the rough trying to get you out. It was usually bowled to keep things under control.”

West Indian Lara echoed Tendulkar while remembering his duels with Warne.

“I grew up in a country where spin bowling dominated. The lower part of the Caribbean, Trinidad, Guyana, we played spin very well. And Warne posed a lot of trouble for a lot of other players. I found myself winning a lot of those battles, but he never gave up.

“He always produced that miracle delivery, the one that you didn’t know was coming. So I always had my eyes open for Warne throughout my career. He was just a tremendous bowler, bowling in an attack which had awesome fast bowlers,” Lara said.