‘I’d never encountered anyone like him’: Sachin Tendulkar reserves big praise for PAK pacer who ‘made the ball talk’
Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the greatest batter of all time. The Indian cricketer played at the highest level for 24 years, from 1989 to 2013, and scored a total of 34357 runs in 664 international matches. He played 200 Tests, 463 ODIs, and one T20I for the Men in Blue. During his playing days, he faced a number of legendary bowlers from around the world, and it’s safe to say that he dominated them on most occasions. The likes of legendary bowlers like Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Glenn McGrath, Allan Donald, Brett Lee, Chaminda Vaas, and Courtney Walsh have all played against Tendulkar at their prime, and the Master Blaster used to smash them all around the park, day in and day out.
Sachin, who is the leading run getter and century maker in both ODI and Test formats of the game, enjoyed a very healthy rivalry with all these greats during his playing days, and he has now reserved big praise for former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram, who was his long-time rival on the field.
Sachin and Akram faced each other multiple times during the 1990s and were fierce rivals of each other on the field, but off the field they shared mutual respect, the proof of which is that Sachin has made a special contribution to Akram’s autobiography, ‘Sultan: A Memoir’, where he paid a tribute to the 56-year-old.
The 49-year-old Tendulkar lauded Akram’s skill with the ball and said that a bowler like him “lifts your game.”
“Cricket is a team sport, but everything goes back to the rivalry of batter and bowler, and in Wasim Akram every batter had a wonderful rival – when you play against someone of that calibre, it lifts your game as well, and the experience stays with you forever. Wasim was a master. He made the ball talk,” Tendulkar wrote in Akram’s book.
“His run-up was so natural. Unlike most fast bowlers, he didn’t need to measure his steps; he could just start from anywhere and still be as effective. He ran through the crease so quickly you hardly had time to set yourself up. When I first faced him, I’d never encountered anyone like Wasim. Every game we played against each other I remember. and every time we meet now it is in warm friendship,” Sachin added.
Akram played at the highest level for 19 years, and during that period he took part in 460 matches and picked up a total of 916 wickets, which is the sixth most by any bowler in international cricket at present.
