Ravi Shastri comes clean on advice for Warnie in debut disaster

An Indian cricketing great has revealed the advice he gave to Shane Warne before the spin king became the Aussie legend he has become.

Indian cricket great Ravi Shastri has revealed he saw greatness in Shane Warne from his Test debut, despite spanking the future Aussie legend all over the park.

Shastri, who joined the Fox Cricket commentary team for the washed out Big Bash League match between the Adelaide Strikers and Brisbane Heat on Saturday night, opened up on what he saw of Warne in his Test debut.

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The then 22-year-old Warne had debuted in first-class cricket less than a year earlier before impressing in Australia B and Australia A appearances, before debuting for Australia in the 1992 New Years Test.

And it was hardly a sign of things to come.

Warne, who had played just seven first-class matches before his debut, was monstered by the Indian batters.

Shastri smoked 206 before becoming Warne’s first Test wicket, as he and Sachin Tendulkar, who finished 148 not out, destroyed the Aussie attack.

In 45 overs, Warne took 1/150.

Few would have thought Warnie would go from this … Photo by Getty Images

… To this, celebrating his 700th wicket.

It took Warne a while to find his feet at Test level, finally finding his feet in the 1992 Boxing Day Test, where he took 7/52 in the second innings against the West Indies — and the rest is history.

But despite the inauspicious start, Shastri said he saw something special in Warne.

“I’d be lying if I thought he’d get 700 wickets, but I knew there and then 300, 350 was not far away,” Shastri said.

“Sachin (Tendulkar) and me were involved in a partnership of close to 200 runs and his control was amazing. His control on the leg break was amazing. He hardly bowled anything short you could pull, the odd cut. But otherwise he had great control.

“I remember telling him after that game, after I got man of the match, I was coming down and he was passing by. I tapped him on his shoulder and said: ‘Young man, you’ll bowl a lot worse than this and you’ll pick up five-for or six-for very quickly’.

“I think in eight month’s time, he picked up 7/50 against the West Indies at the ‘G.”

Ravi Shastri has opened up on his first look at Warnie. Photo: Fox Sports

Shastri, who was nearing the end of his Test career, which finished the following December against South Africa, said the emergence of Tendulkar, who was just 18 at the time, said he “saw greatness” in the Little Master.

The great yarns came as Adelaide cricket fans were forced to wait another 10 days for their BBL season to kicked off after the match against the Heat was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The covers never came off at Adelaide Oval after the deluge, with more than 30mm of rain falling across the city in 30 hours, more than the monthly average for the city.

The call was made to abandon the match at 8pm local time leaving the teams to split the points.

Having already racked up a win on Thursday night, the Heat jumped to the top of the BBL table, and next play against the Thunder in Canberra on Tuesday.

However the lopsided nature of the early season schedule means the Strikers won’t get to see action again until another home game, also against the Thunder, on December 19.

Big Bash officials shortened the BBL season this year in the wake of criticisms of it being too long, with each team playing just 10 matches, down from 14 in previous seasons.

But with the first Test between Australia and Pakistan scheduled for Perth, there will be a five-day window of no BBL games, forcing several teams to have extended breaks.

While the Heat will rack up three games before the break, the Strikers and Hobart Hurricanes, who play their first game on Monday night in Launceston, and Thunder only have one each.

While the washout was unfortunate, the upside is once again getting some great cricket yarns for the faithful hoping for any game time.

Originally published as Ravi Shastri comes clean on advice for Warnie in debut disaster