Durban: Shane Warne today received glowing tributes from star Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar who described the ace leg spinner as 'one of the greatest cricketers ever' and said the game would miss such a 'special' player.

Terming Warne's retirement as 'unfortunate', Tendulkar, said he is surely one of the greatest cricketers the world has seen.

"He has also been a top spinner; the other top spinner is playing in my team Anil Kumble and then there is Muttiah Muralitharan. These are the three spinners anyone would like to have them in their teams," he said.

 The duels between Tendulkar and Warne were one of the biggest contests in world cricket for over a decade and it was a battle which was invariably won by the Indian, forcing Warne to admit having 'nightmares' about him.

"Well (as for me), you had to be awake to play Warne. There was no breathing space. Warne being such a fierce competitor, you knew there was no stage when you could run him out of the game, he was always coming back at you and that kept me going, kept me on toes," the former Indian skipper said.

"I have always maintained it's not Warne and Sachin; it's Australia and India. People like to build these things up, there was somebody else before us and there would be somebody else after us. Such things keep happening," he said.