Steve Waugh:
"You� take Don Bradman away and he is next up I reckon."
Shane Warne:
"I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and
belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart
from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing
player."Sachin Tendulkar:
"One should not compare me with anyone. I have my own shots and the way I go out to
play. I have my own game and the way to score runs.''
Ravi Shastri:
"We always knew that Sachin Tendulkar is a great cricketer, but after the
Coca-Cola Cup here, we have seen the birth of a legend. I can't think of anybody who has
batted more authoritatively in one day cricket for India, or even in the world except for
Viv Richards."
Steve Waugh: (after being defeated in the Coca-Cola Cup finals in
Sharjah)
"It was one of the greatest innings I have ever seen. There is no shame
being beaten by such a great player, Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don''.
Greg Chappell:
"He is a perfectly balanced batsman and knows perfectly well when to attack
and when to play defensive cricket. He has developed the ability to treat bowlers all over
the world with contempt and can destroy any attack with utmost ease. "
Tony Greig:
"He is cool, has magnificient temperament, and is so mature you tend to
forget his age. I can't think of any other example of a player who has so dominated the
world before the age of 25."
Shane Warne:
"When it comes to judging the best among these fabulous band of batsmen, my
vote goes to Tendulkar. He has an uncanny ability to come out on top under different
circumstances and under different conditions, whether it is Test cricket or one-day
internationals. And more importantly, he has done this so young. "
Sachin Tendulkar:
"When I'm in the middle, the only thing that comes to mind is that I'm a
batsman and the team
expects something from me and I should be able to live up to my teammates'
expectations."
Allan Border: (after India won the Coca-Cola cup in Sharjah)
"Hell, if he stayed, even at 11 an over he would have got it."
A conversation:
Border: It's scary, where the hell do we bowl to him.
Ian Chappell: Yeah mate, but that's with all great players.
Border: Well yes, but imagine what he'll be like when he's 28.
Greg Chappell: I'd like to see him go out and bat one day with a stump. I tell you he'd do
okay.
Another conversation:
Mark Waugh: Sachin's better; Lara is more risky outside the off stump.
Shane Warne: Nothing affects Sachin, Brian lets things bother him.
Steve Waugh: In history Sachin will go down as second to Bradman.
Adam Hollioke:
"In an over I can bowl six different balls. But then Sachin looks at me with
a sort of gentle arrogance down the pitch as if to say 'Can you bowl me another
one?'"
Another conversation:
Warne: You have to decide for yourself whether you're bowling well or not. He's
going to hit you for fours and sixes anyway.
Kasprowicz has a superior story. During the Bangalore Test, frustrated, he went to Dennis
Lillee and asked, "Mate, do you see any weaknesses?"
Lillee replied, "No Michael, as long as you walk off with your pride that's all you
can do."
Kasprowicz:
"Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours."
Ajay Jadeja: (after India entered the Coca-Cola cup final in Sharjah)
"I can't dream of an innings like that. He exists where we can't."
Ted Dexter: (who chaired the panel, the Coopers & Lybrand award as
the International Test player of th year)
"This year Tendulkar has been the batsman nobody wanted to bowl at. He took Shane
Warne apart in India, which illustrates his genius."
M. L. Jaisimha:
"The more I see of him the more confused I'm getting to which is his best
knock."
Cricket Historian Vasant Raiji:
"I have always felt C. K. Nayadu was the best.� I now think sachin has
the honour of being the most outstanding batsman of all time."
Mike Selvey:
"Tendulkar is the supreme righthander on the planet, a focussed technician
who offers a counterpoint to Brian Lara's more eyecatching destruction."
Jeff Thompson:
"Sachin is an attacker.� He has much more power than Sunny.� He
wants to be the one to set the pace.� He has to be on top.� That's the buzz
about him."
Dennis Lillee:
"If I've to bowl to Sachin, I'll bowl with my helmet on.� He hits the
ball so hard."
Asif Iqbal: (after India won at Sharjah)
"He has given a new dimension to batting.� Such dominance can break the
heart of the best of bowlers.� I was never tired of watching this wonderful
batsman."
Peter Roebuck:
"Sometime back I had written a piece that said that Sachin's the master and
Lara a genius with his head high up somewhere.� That's it."
Wasim Akram has predicted that Sachin
Tendulkar will easily break all international batting records. "He has everything a
top batsman needs. Tendulkar is a classic example of a player being so good that his age
is an irrelevance" Akram says in his autobiography titled "Wasim". He also
stated a number of examples when he and his team were frustrated by Tendulkar's batting
prowess.
Don Bradman- "I saw him playing on
television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I
never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to
play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the
two...hi compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel !"
David Boon- "Techincally he stands
out as the best because of his ability to increase the pace at will".
Mohinder Amarnath- "A complete
batsman- he's the best in the bussiness."
Paul Strang- "What we (Zimbabwe)
need is 10 Tendulkars."
Rahul Dravid- "Playing in the same
team as Sachin is a huge honour. His balance of mind, shrewd judgement, modesty and, above
all, his technical brilliance make him my all-time hero."
Australian Media-"The
most exciting batsman of his time because he finds the right balance between reason and
passion, techinque and power, nerves and placement and judgement that applies to all
tastes."
Shane Warne has also rated him as the best
batsman in the world.
Prof. R. Shetty, Secretary MCA-"We
are proud to possess him due to his commitment to Mumbai and Indian cricket."
Raj Singh, President Cricket Board-
"I was very impressed the first time I saw him bat as a little boy at the Cricket
Club of India."
Lalchand Rajput, Former Mumbai captain-"Even
as a teenager he always seemed very focused and alert on the field. He learnt his lessons
fast."
Navjot Sidhu, Indian opening batsman- "His
mind is like a computer. He stores data on bowlers and knows where they are going to pitch
the ball." |