Shane Warne, the former Australia leg-spinner, has revealed he was against the decision of Steve Waugh to enforce the follow-on on India during the famous Eden Gardens Test in 2001.
In one of Test cricket’s most thrilling matches, India came back despite following on and conceding a 274-run lead in the first innings to sensationally win the Test by 171 runs, denying Australia a record 17th consecutive Test win. The protagonists for India were VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, their 376-run stand taking India to safety before Harbhajan Singh ran through Australia to secure a famous victory.
Warne believes the result would have been different had Australia simply decided to bat again instead of enforcing the follow-on. He said Waugh, then the Australia captain, with whom he has had a tense relationship, made the wrong call in his “adamant” eagerness to claim the record.
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“It’s completely different conditions [to the ongoing England Test],” he said on commentary for Sky Sports during the England-Pakistan Test, when Zak Crawley and Jos Buttler put on a 359-run stand.
“It was 45 degrees, we’d been out on the field for a long time, the wicket was going to get worse. I think at that time, I remember Steve Waugh coming out to us bowlers … [Jason] Gillespie, think [Glenn] McGrath, myself and I think [Michael] Kasprowicz was there.
“And as we saw happened, seven down, eight down, nine down … he comes and… ‘How’re you feeling?’ and McGrath was like, ‘I’m a bit weary’. I was like, ‘Weary, let’s use that word’. Then we have Dizzy and Kaspa. Kaspa had only played a few games, a few overs [he bowled 13 that innings, seven fewer than Warne], and he was a bit like, ‘Let’s go, skip, I’m ready to go!’
For the record AGAIN & I’ve said this 1000 times – I do not hate S Waugh at all. FYI – I picked him in my all time best Australian team recently. Steve was easily the most selfish cricketer that I ever played with and this stat……. https://t.co/QMigV788L7
— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) May 15, 2020
“And I was like, ‘Come on, Kaspa’. It was completely different conditions back then, and Steve Waugh was adamant that he wanted to win that record amount of Test matches in a row, I think it was 17. To me, it was the only way India could win that Test match. If we go and bat again, make the 200 – the lead was 450 [474] – they try to defend it, it’s a different game. So, yeah. I thought he got that wrong.
“But they played beautifully, Laxman and Dravid. In my time of playing, [it was] as good an innings as there was. Laxman’s innings was beautiful, Dravid’s was too. Sometimes you’ve got to dig down and say, ‘Too good’.”
Warne and Waugh were involved in a tiff earlier this year when Warne reiterated the comments he made in autobiography, that Waugh was the “most selfish” cricketer he played with. Waugh responded saying, “His comments are a reflection of himself, nothing to do with me. That’s all I’d say.”
