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‘When I first faced him, hadn’t encountered anyone like him’: Sachin Tendulkar on rivalry with all-time great
Sachin Tendulkar reserved massive words of praise for an all-time great rival who smashed multiple bowling records throughout a stellar international career.
India's former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters in the history of the game. Tendulkar holds the record for most runs in ODIs and Tests, as well as most international centuries (100) in the history of the game. Justifiably, in his 24-year-long international career, Tendulkar also enjoyed healthy rivalries with some of the bowling greats of his time; one of them being former Pakistan captain and legendary left-arm speedster, Wasim Akram.
Akram made his international debut before Tendulkar, but the duo had a fierce rivalry throughout the nineties. Unsurprisingly, both have a strong mutual respect and it's for this reason that Tendulkar made a special contribution to Wasim Akram's autobiography, Sultan: A Memoir, where the ‘master blaster’ – as Tendulkar is fondly known – paid a tribute to the legendary pace bowling great.
Talking about Akram's incredible skills with the ball, Tendulkar wrote that a bowler of that calibre “lifts your game,” adding that Akram “made the ball talk.”
“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,” wrote the former India batter further.
Wasim Akram holds the record for most wickets by a fast bowler in ODIs, and was also the first in the history of the format to breach the 500-wicket mark. He ended his ODI career with 502 wickets to his name in 356 matches. In Tests, the former left-arm pacer ended a stellar career with 414 wickets to his name in 106 games.
