Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are certainly two of the finest batters to have played international cricket. The two had their own distinctive style, dominated bowlers at their peak and boasted of a long, successful careers scoring runs across the globe.
Since they played their international cricket in the same era, it was natural that comparisons would follow.
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For former South Africa captain Ali Bacher though, Tendulkar was the greater of the duo and claims that Australian consider Lara to be better which is ‘rubbish’.
“I mean, he (Tendulkar) is a freak, he’s from a different planet,” Bacher was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times. “I’ve seen so many of his great innings but for me, it’s all about how he is as a person. Jeez, has he ever had an argument? I don’t think so. He’s just this greatness, this happiness, personified. You know, the Australians believe Brian Lara was better than him, I say rubbish. I say Brian Lara played before four million people. Man, this bloke had 1.4 billion people. Can you imagine the pressure of this bloke? Don’t tell me that.”
Bacher, who played 11 Tests, had a successful career as a cricket administrator.
Besides Tendulkar, he admires Australia legend Steve Waugh whom he considered as ‘mentally strong’.
“The next one I respect enormously is Steve Waugh. God — guts, determination. There was a time when I did a lot of TV interviews, about 70 of them. The one I wanted to interview was Steve Waugh, and he didn’t want to be interviewed. But I met him in London, and we did it,” Bacher recalled.
“During that interview, my producer, Richard Parker, showed a clip of a Test in Trinidad. Steve went into bat I think at 12 (14) for three, a green wicket. Curtly Ambrose runs up and nearly takes off his head. So, what did Steve do? He swore at him. He told me afterwards what he said to him, but I can’t repeat that here! And you see Curtly Ambrose walking to hit him and Richie Richardson stopping him. The next ball, he could have been killed, but Steve fought it out and made an unbeaten 63. He was tough mentally, Steve,” he added.
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