Recalling the supremacy of legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar, former South Africa skipper and fast bowler Shaun Pollock said such was the India batter’s dominance that the bowlers would wait for him to make a mistake in order to get him out.
“There were times, especially in the subcontinent, where you thought, ‘I’m not sure we can knock this guy over.’ We were hoping he would make a mistake, rather than had a genuine plan,” Pollock told in a conversation with Sky Sports.
“It was how well he understood his game and how he would adjust. He talked to me once about going to Australia and understanding he couldn’t take on the short-pitched deliveries anymore so he would ramp the ball over the wicketkeeper and slip,” he added.
The classy right-hander Tendulkar has scored 34,357 international runs across all the three formats – 18,426 in ODIs and 15,921 in Tests. Apart from this, he is the only batsman to score 100 international centuries (51 Tests and 49 ODIs).
Days before, former Australia skipper Michael Clarke had also heaped praise on Tendulkar, who according to the Aussie was technically the best batsman he ever saw.
“Probably technically the best batsman (Tendulkar) I ever saw. The hardest batsman to get out. I think Sachin, technically, didn’t have a weakness. Part of you hoped that he made a mistake,” Fox Sports had quoted Clarke as saying on the Big Sports Breakfast radio show.
Comparing Tendulkar with the modern generation great and India skipper Virat Kohli, Clarke said, “What Kohli and Tendulkar have in common is they love making big hundreds.”
Notably, Tendulkar along with Kohli found a spot in Clarke’s list of seven greatest batsmen he has played alongside or against during his career.