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I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...hi compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel!.
- Sir Don Bradman
India's fortune will depend on how many runs the little champion scores. There is no doubt Tendulkar is the real thing.
- Sunil Gavaskar
I have watched a lot of Tendulkar and we have spoken to each other a lot. He has it in him to be among the very best.
- Sir Garfield Sobers
He is 99.5 per cent perfect. I'd pay to see him.
- Viv Richards
He has defined cricket in his fabulous, impeccable manner. He is to batting what Shane Warne is to bowling.
- Richie Benaud
Sachin is cricket's God!
- Barry Richards
Harder he works, the luckier he gets.
- Ian Chappell
In terms of technique and compactness, Tendulkar is the best.
- Desmond Haynes
Technically he stands out as the best because of his ability to increase the pace at will.
- David Boon
There is no shame being beaten by such a great player, Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don.
-Steve Waugh
Sachin is cricket’s god.
- Barry Richards
Technically, you can't fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow nothing is a problem.
- Geoffrey Boycott
He is Sachin Tendulkar. I hope he stays Sachin Tendulkar. We need a new player, a player in his own way. He has a technique which is the hallmark of a great player. Everything indicates that he will be a great player and I am sure he will prove me right. Reminds me of Barry Richards.
- Eddie Barlow
He is a perfectly balanced batsman and knows perfectly well when to attack and when to play defensive cricket. He has developed the ability to treat bowlers all over the world with contempt and can destroy any attack with utmost ease.
- Greg Chappell
I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player.
- Shane Warne
I think he is marvellous. I think he will fit in whatever category of Cricket that has been played or will be played, from the first ball that has ever been bowled to the last ball that's going to be. He can play in any era and at any level. I would say he's 99.5% perfect.
- Viv Richards
A complete batsman — he's the best in the business.
- Mohinder Amarnath
Sachin is an attacker. He has much more power than Sunny. He wants to be the one to set the pace. He has to be on top. That's the buzz about him.
- Jeff Thompson
You take Don Bradman away and he is next up I reckon.
- Steve Waugh
Hell, if he had stayed, even at 11 an over he would have got it.
- Allan Border
Today, he showed the world why he is considered the best batsman around. Some of the shots he played were simply amazing. Earlier, opposing teams used to feel that Sachin's dismissal meant they could win the game. Today, I feel that the Indian players, too, feel this way.
- Wasim Akram
Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.
- BBC Sports
I Was fielding in the covers Tendulkar came out to bat in his debut Test at Karachi. I still remember Waqar Younis was at his peak form at that time. Tendulkar tried to drive Waqar through the covers off his very first ball in Test cricket but was beaten all ends up. But I walked to captain Imran Khan and told him 'this kid looks very good' and Imran agree with me.
- Abdul Qadir
He is a perfectly balanced batsman and knows perfectly well when to attack and when to play defensive cricket. He has developed the ability to treat bowlers all over the world with contempt and can destroy any attack with utmost ease.
- Greg Chappell
I'd like to see him go out and bat one day with a stump. I tell you he'd do okay.
- Greg Chappell
Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours.
- Michael Kasprowicz
If I've to bowl to Sachin, I'll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard.
- Dennis Lillee
I still think Tendulkar is the best batsman in the world ahead of Steve Waugh and Lara.
- Glenn McGrath
What we (Zimbabwe) need is 10 Tendulkars.
- Paul Strang
Sometime back I had written a piece that said that Sachin's the master and Lara a genius with his head high up somewhere. That's it!
- Peter Roebuck
Sachin is an attacker. He has much more power than Sunny. He wants to be the one to set the pace. He has to be on top. That's the buzz about him.
- Jeff Thompson
Tendulkar is the most complete batsman I have stood behind. I saw the hundred in Perth on a bouncy pitch with Hughes, McDermott and Whitney gunning for him – he only had 60-odd when No 11 came in. I've seen him against Warne too.
- Ian Healy
He has defined cricket in his fabulous, impeccable manner. He is to batting what Shane Warne is to bowling.
- Richie Benaud
He's better than Ben Hur.
- Paul Wilson
I still think Tendulkar is the best batsmen in the world, ahead of Steve Waugh and Lara.
- Glenn McGrath
There's no doubt about it. He is the best.
- Tony Grieg
Tendulkar is the most complete batsman I have stood behind. I saw the hundred in Perth on a bouncy pitch with Hughes, McDermott and Whitney gunning for him he only had 60-odd when No 11 came in. I've seen him against Warne too.
- Ian Healy
Sachin's the best. I've had this view since I saw him score that hundred in Sydney in 1992. He's the most composed batsman I've ever seen.
- Mike Coward
The pressure on me is nothing as compared to Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin, like God, must never fail. The crowd always expects him to succeed and it is too much pressure on him .
- Mark Waugh
Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal.
- Brain Lara
Sometime back I had written a piece that said that Sachin's the master and Lara a genius with his head high up somewhere. That's it.
- Peter Roebuck
A little genius. Reminds me of Sunny Gavaskar.
- Keith Fletcher
He is Sachin Tendulkar. I hope he stays Sachin Tendulkar. We need a new player, a player in his own way. He has a technique which is the hallmark of a great player. Everything indicates that he will be a great player and I am sure he will prove me right. Reminds me of Barry Richards.
- Eddie Barlow
Destined to be a great.
- Barry Richards
His life seems to be a stillness in a frantic world... [When he goes out to bat], it is beyond chaos - it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one man. The people see him as a God...
- Mathew Hayden
It was one of the greatest innings I have ever seen. There is no shame being beaten by such a great player, Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don.
- Steve Waugh
You might pitch a ball on the off stump and think you have bowled a good ball and he walks across and hits it for two behind midwicket. His bat looks so heavy but he just waves it around like it's a toothpick.
- Brett Lee
What we (Zimbabwe) need is 10 Tendulkars.
- Paul Strang
Cricketers like Sachin come once in a lifetime and I am privileged he played in my time.
- Wasim Akram
While I keep hoping he gets out, I must admit that his stroke play is a treat to watch.
- Mark Waugh
I have seen God. He bats at number 4 for India.
- Mathew Hayden
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.
- Shane Warne
Much has been made of my personal contest with Tendulkar. Some people have said that my duel with Tendulkar in India in 1997-98 was the most compelling Test cricket they have ever seen, but there is no doubt he enjoyed the better of the exchanges. He has played me better than anybody. Most Indian batsmen pick the length very quickly, even when it is flighted above the eyeline, but Tendulkar moved into position even earlier than the likes of Mohammad Azharuddin and Rahul Dravid. His footwork is immaculate. He would either go right forward or all the way back and he has the confidence to go for his strokes. I suppose I would be confident too if I batted as well as Tendulkar.
- Shane Warne
He's a phenomenon. We have to be switched on when he plays allow him no boundries, for then he doesn't stop.
- Mark Taylor
You have to decide for yourself whether you're bowling well or not. He's going to hit you for fours and sixes anyway. Kasprowicz has a superior story. During the Bangalore Test, frustrated, he went to Dennis Lillee and asked, 'Mate, do you see any weaknesses?' Lillee replied, 'No Michael, as long as you walk off with your pride, that's all you can do.
- Shane Warne
When it comes to judging the best among these fabulous band of batsmen, my vote goes to Tendulkar. He has an uncanny ability to come out on top under different circumstances and under different conditions, whether it is Test cricket or one-day internationals. And more importantly, he has done this so young.
- Shane Warne
His stroke off the backfoot, particularly off the pace bowler, is extraordinary – the next thing you know is that someone is picking the ball up from the gutter.
- Richie Benaud
The thing I like the most about Sachin is his intensity. After being in the game for so long, he still has the same desire to do well for India in any international match. I tell you what, this man is a legend.
- Sourav Ganguly
I have never seen Bradman but heard people talk about him. But I tell you what, if Bradman could bat like this man does then he was dynamite. Players like Sachin deserve to be preserved in cotton wool.
- Viv Richards
To me he is the complete batsman. What has impressed me most about him in his focus and determination to do well. I think the youngsters can learn a lot form just watching him play and emulating his determination. Despite being so immensely gifted, he is still so determined to excel every time he goes out to bat for his country, it is something I have always respected. - Wasim Akram
Sachin is an attacker. He has much more power than Sunny. He wants to bet he one to set the pace. He has to be on top. That's the buzz about him.
- Jeff Thomson
The more I see him, the more I want to see him.
- Mohammad Azharuddin
Playing in the same team as Sachin is a huge honour. His balance of mind, shrewd judgment, modesty and, above all, his technical brilliance make him my all-time hero... You can't get a more complete cricketer than Sachin. He has everything that a cricketer needs to have.
- Rahul Dravid
By far the best I have seen or played against.
- Allan Donald
His shot selection is superb, he just lines you up and can make you look very silly. Everything is right in his technique and judgment. There isn't a fault there. He is also a lovely guy, and over the years I’ve enjoyed some interesting chats with him.
- Allan Donald
First and foremost, Tendulkar is an entertainer and that for me is as important factor as any fact or figure. Too often boring players have been pushed forward as great by figures alone. For sheer entertainment, he will keep cricket alive.
- Barry Richards
Sachin is a genius. I’m a mere mortal.
- Brian Lara
The thing I admire most about this man is his poise. The way he moves, elegantly without ever looking out of place in any condition or company, suggests his pedigree.
- Bishan Singh Bedi
Why I've always liked him is that batsmen tend to be negative at times and I think batting is not about not getting out – it is to play positively. I think you got to take it to the bowlers and Sachin is one such player. When you do so, you change the game, you change bowlers because they suddenly start bowling badly because they are under pressure.
- Graeme Pollock
