Sachin Tendulkar is in the same class as Sir Don Bradman, as per Warne.
The Australian leg-spin legend has put Sachin Tendulkar at the top of his list of 50 greatest cricketers ahead of another batting legend and former West Indies skipper Brian Lara.Justifying his decision to rank Tendulkar at the top, Warne wrote, "You have to watch India in India truly to appreciate the pressure that Sachin Tendulkar is under every time he bats. Outside grounds, people wait until he goes in before paying to enter. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer. This is cricket as Sachin has known it since the age of 16. He grew up under incredible weight of expectation and never buckled once - not under poor umpiring decisions or anything else. I place him very slightly ahead of Lara because I found him slightly tougher mentally."
"He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Sir Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar," Warne said.
While Warne ranking Tendulkar as the best player of his generation may not come as a surprise to many, what would certainly startle them is that there is no Australian in the top three with the West Indies pacer Curtly Ambrose occupying the third spot.
Former Australian skipper Allan Border, who is credited with turning the Bagg
y Greens into a ruthless winning machine, is at the fourth spot followed by the fast bowler Glenn McGrath.Also included in Warne's list, in seventh place, was Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, just nine short of overhauling the Australian's world record of 708 Test wickets.
"No matter what anybody thinks about his action, he is wonderful to bat against for the experience of facing a ball that turns so much," Warne said."
Australia's dominance of both Test and one-day cricket for much of Warne's career was reflected in the fact that five of his compatriots - Allan Border, McGrath, current captain Ricky Ponting, Mark Taylor and Ian Healy - made it into his top ten although none were in the leading trio with Curtly Ambrose, the former West Indies fast bowler, in third place.
Shane Warne's 10 greatest cricketers
1. Sachin Tendulkar (IND), 2. Brian Lara (WIS), 3. Curtly Ambrose (WIS), 4. Allan Border (AUS), 5. Glenn McGrath (AUS), 6. Wasim Akram (PAK), 7. Muttiah Muralitharan (SRI), 8. Ricky Ponting (AUS), 9. Mark Taylor (AUS), 10. Ian Healy (AUS)
posted by Pradeep @ 4:42 AM,
