Former Australian quick Brett Lee has said Sachin Tendulkar’s footwork and his ability to watch the ball out of the hand made him an exception, which left Shane Warne in anguish.

Lee, while speaking to Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected, said Tendulkar’s footwork against spin was something which created problems for Shane Warne, as he would sometimes come down the wicket to force Warne to drop the ball short.

On other occasions, Tendulkar would sit back on the back foot and play square of the wicket to upset Warne and force him to think of something else to get inside his head. He would play ‘cat and mouse’ with Warne, something which most batters couldn’t do.

“[Tendulkar] used to advance down the wicket a few times and invited Warne to bowl a fraction too short. Sometimes, he would wait patiently on the back foot and play those beautiful shots,” Lee said as quoted.

“It was almost like he was playing cat and mouse with Warne and not many batsmen can play cat and mouse with Shane Warne because he’s so talented.”

Tendulkar, known to be using forward press against spin, inspired former England and India coach, Duncan Fletcher to employ it in his coaching philosophies. Fletcher had studied the way Tendulkar and Azharuddin coped with spin [by using the press] and encouraged England batters to do the same.

The little master would leave Warne in anguish, who would try every sort of subtle variation he had in his arsenal. He would try different angles, get the ball to dip and drop onto him but Tendulkar would have answers to every single challenge.

The key, according to Lee, was the way Tendulkar watched the hand of Warne and give himself a head start from that point – which made him standout from the rest of the lot.

“There were times when Warne would try and get the trajectory a bit different through the air and sometimes, he would try and get a few balls to drop. Every time he would try the subtle variations, there was only Sachin who would pick them up.

“Warne would bamboozle other batsmen around the world, but Sachin would watch the hand much better than most of the other batsmen.”