Tendulkar has achieved enough to be knighted: Ranatunga
Sachin Tendulkar has achieved enough in his 18-year career to deserve knighthood, said former Sri Lankan skipper sharing the views of British PM Gordon Brown.
Sachin Tendulkar has achieved enough in his 18-year career to deserve knighthood, said former Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga sharing the views of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
"I think he is one of the top batsmen produced by the cricketing world. He has achieved a lot and I don't think any cricketer will have problems in his getting the coveted title," Ranatunga told PTI.
"I think he has done a great deal for Indian cricket. Why not? It is a good suggestion by the British Prime Minister," he said.
Ranatunga, who is also the Chairman of Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC), lauded Tendulkar's sportsman spirit.
"He is a good sport. I have played lot of cricket with him. We have never had any problems when it came to umpiring decisions. Whenever he is out, he always walks."
The 44-year-old former player said such quality of Asian players was exemplary and should be followed by the players of other countries.
"If you see, most of the Asian cricketers do not wait for the (umpire's) decision to walk. Even (Kumar) Sangakkara walks without waiting for the umpire to give him out. This is something that the ICC should show it to the world. And try and get the other cricketers to implement the good cricketing values," he said.
Ranatunga said besides Tendulkar, cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev also deserved to be knighted.
Brown on Monday suggested that India's record-smashing batsman Tendulkar be considered for knighthood for his rich contribution to the game.
"Sachin is one of the great cricketers in the world. It's not for me to decide honours in our country. It is a matter for an independent honours committee," Brown said.
"But I'm sure the people recognise that just like Sir Don Bradman and others who were awarded honours as honorary knighthood for the work they did for cricket, there is of course a strong case for reward," he had said.
The 34-year-old Tendulkar, currently in Australia for a Test series, has so far scored 11,616 runs in 145 Tests with a world-record 38 centuries since making his debut in 1989.
He is also the world's leading batsman in one-day internationals, with 15,962 runs in 407 matches with a record 41 hundreds.