MELBOURNE, Australia (CMC):

Australian leg-spinning legend Shane Warne has pinpointed Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies captain Brian Lara as the toughest batsmen he had had to bowl to during his 15-year international career.

"Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are the two best batsmen of my era. I think those two guys have been the toughest at international level," said Warne, who yesterday announced he was quitting international cricket at the end of the current Ashes series against England.

Of Lara, Warne said: "I cannot believe it. It's just amazing his placement in cricket. He can dominate a game, as we've seen over the years, no matter who's bowling."

Lara, Test cricket's leading run-getter of all time with 11,953 runs, averages 51 against Australia in addition to scoring nine centuries, three of which are doubles.

Warne said he admired the way Tendulkar had managed to carry the expectations of a cricket-crazy nation.

"I really admire Sachin for what he has to go through every day in India, with a billion people wanting him to do well," said Warne, who in the past has admitted to having nightmares about bowling to the prodigious Indian. "There's 50,000 people outside the stadium and when he walks up to bat, they all charge in. One of the hardest things when you've been a successful player is everybody else's expectations. They can wear you down after a while."