Tendulkar to praise Warne after his glowing tribute

London, Sept 3 (UNI) After Shane Warne's glowing enconiums to Sachin Tendulkar, naming him the No 1 in his top 50 list of cricketers, its the turn of the little master to return the favour.

''That's special. That's very special. I will absolutely treasure this.

''I've been around for 18 years and Shane has played against me all that time. It feels wonderful when someone of his stature appreciates your performances,'' the 34-year-old was quoted as saying by the 'The Times'.

Tendulkar knew that he had been chosen by Warne as the greatest cricketer of his generation, but he is yet to read the eulogy from Warne.

Notwithstanding the engrossing Tendulkar-Warne duel that exhilarate the crowd, the Indian living legend's benevolent act of praising the Oz spin wizard has not come as a surprise.

The 'Bombay bomber' duly returned the compliment, describing Warne ''as good a bowler as I faced.'' ''Every time I played against Shane, he was always extremely challenging and competitive,'' Tendulkar said.

''He was as good a bowler as I faced. But his greatness was that, even when he was not taking wickets, he was still coming at you all the time.

''If he hadn't taken a single wicket throughout the day, I still felt I had to focus as much on the last ball as I had on the first few balls of the day. So I always preferred to be on my toes,'' Tendulkar said.

The 37-year-old leg-spinner, appreciating the pressure under which the Mumbaikar played throughout his career, payed rich tributes to him in his column.

'' You have to watch him (Tendulkar) in India truly to appreciate the pressure that Sachin Tendulkar is under every time he bats.

''Outside grounds, people wait until he goes in before paying to enter. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer. This is cricket as Sachin has known it since the age of 16,'' the champion leg-spinner wrote.

Warne has been an ardent Tendulkar fan, writting for him in a July newspaper column when he felt the India great was being written off during the Test series against England.

Tendulkar has so far scored 11150 Tests runs in 140 matches with an average of 54.92 in the longer version of the game. His ODI record is also something to marvel at with more than 15,000 runs in 393 matches with an average close to 45.

This longevity and consistency was something that made Warne to give him the top position, ahead of another genius Brian Lara.

Nimble as ever at the crease, Tendulkar was at his best in Headingley yesterday, scoring a brisk 71 runs in 59 balls, driving his trademark straight drives. He is a cricketing icon in India but he somehow keeps his cool with billions of expectations.

Tendulkar has been plagued by injuries in the last few years, which have kept him away from the cricket field. But the recovery hasn't been so easy especially when age is catching up.

''I enjoy every moment I have on a cricket field, but the recovery times between games these days are difficult, especially for one-day internationals, and that's my major obstacle,'' he said.

''It does take its toll on the body. When you are 22 or 23, you recover a lot more quickly. But at 34, it's not so easy,'' he added.

UNI