Exhibition matches in US: Shane Warne on why a great concept didn't take off

Their mutual respect even during epic on-field face-offs is well-documented but Shane Warne has claimed that his relations with Sachin Tendulkar took a hit in 2015-16 -- reason being difference of opinion on the organisation of exhibition matches in the United States.

In his recently-released autobiography 'No Spin', Warne recalled how a concept that he and Tendulkar thought of making an annual affair failed to take off after the first edition due to their differences on its management.

Tendulkar declined comment on the issue when PTI reached out to his team for a response.

The Legends Exhibition matches were held in New York, Houston and Los Angeles in 2015 with most of the top former players in the world taking part, including the likes of Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath and Sourav Ganguly among others.

While Warne, in his book, made it clear that Tendulkar took care of all the expenses of the tournament, he was not impressed with the people that the Indian batting icon brought on board to manage the event.

"Sachin had this guy there, Sanjay, who was very much a mentor and business advisor. I explained my concept and gave them a slide show. They loved it and flew in a guy called Ben Sturner from America. Sachin was adamant that his team of people run the whole thing," Warne wrote in his book.

Sturner is the CEO of a sports entertainment management company but the identity of Sanjay is not clear.

He goes on to write: "I said, 'Well it's my idea. I know I can get the best players and I am prepared to go 50-50 with you. I suggest we pay experienced people to organise it and appoint two from each of our camps'.

"Sachin said, "No I have to have Sanjay and Ben."
"The truth is, if you ask me, that they didn't do the pitch/ground deal quite right and fell foul of that old line of the devil being in the detail of the contract. This, along with other small and important aspect of a top level event... was all very last minute and not slick as I had wanted."
"I suggested, we find an independent agent while at the same time offering my own manager, James Erskine, as an option to broker it all, because he'd previous success staging events in the entertainment industry."
"Sachin said, 'No, it has to be my people'."
"I rang him immediately but got nothing. In fact for a couple of months, he wouldn't take my calls. I later found out he was under the impression that I was trying to do it without him but my instinct was to give him benefit of doubt on that one -- there were a lot of jealous people out there, happy to turn us against each other, I thought."