Sachin Tendulkar, who celebrated his 47th birthday recently named his top five all-rounders of all time. He started playing in an era where all-rounders dominated the world cricket. He expressed his views on the Star Sport’s Cricket Connected Show on Saturday.
Firstly he named Kapil Dev, India’s 1983 World Cup winning captain. Back then, India defied all odds to beat one of the greatest West Indies team of all time to clinch their first World title. The Haryana Hurricane led from the front with both bat and ball. His knock in the semifinal is still regarded as one of the greatest innings ever played in a world cup.
Second in Sachin’s list was Imran Khan, the current Honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan. In 1992, Imran also captained the Pakistan to their maiden World Cup in Australia. In the final versus England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Pakistan skipper scored 72 runs, batting at number three. It also happened to be his last international match.
“I grew up watching the top five all-rounders of the world. I played with one of them which is Kapil Dev. Second would be when I had gone on to my first tour to Pakistan and played against Imran Khan,”
Sachin, who turned 47 on April 24, was quoted as saying on Star Sport’s Cricket Connected Show on Saturday, April 25.
Next in Sachin’s list was the New Zealand’s Sir Richard Hadlee. In his 17-year-old career, Hadlee had scored over 4,800 runs apart from picking up 580 wickets. He is regarded as the greatest cricketer to have ever come out of New Zealand. Tendulkar also went for the legendary Malcolm Marshall and Ian Botham in his list.
“The third was playing against Sir Richard Hadlee on my second tour to New Zealand. Then in Australia, I played against Malcolm Marshall and Ian Botham. So, these are my top five all-rounders whom I grew up watching play and later, had the opportunity to play against them,” he added.
Botham finished his career with over 7,300 runs and 528 wickets for the England team. He was the fastest to the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets. Marshall, on the other hand, was a fast bowling all-rounder. In his career, the West Indies speedster got over 2,700 runs and over 530 wickets.
Tendulkar scored over 34,000 runs for Team India in a career that spanned 24 years from 1983 to 2013. Not only was he the first to score a double century in ODIs, he also is the sole owner of the 100-ton landmark at the highest level.