Geoff Lawson didn't know a lot about Sachin Tendulkar when they played each other

The Legends club celebrated the 45th birthday of Sachin Tendulkar in the presence of the former Australian pacer Geoff Lawson. When Tendulkar toured Australia for the first time, Geoff Lawson was playing his last season in the first-class cricket. The legendary fast bowler captained New South Wales who took on the India team in a tour match.

Geoff Lawson about the first encounter with Sachin Tendulkar

The former New South Wales captain admitted that he did not know much about the master blaster back then, as they were making strategies to tackle senior players.

“I have played against Sachin. I was captaining New South Wales (NSW) and Sachin was 18 at that time. We played India in a country town (Oakes Oval, Lismore). I cannot say I knew him that much, because we were too busy with our analytical minds to set three mid-wickets for Mohammad Azharuddin,” Lawson said as quoted by the SportStar

Tendulkar scored 2 centuries in the five-match Test series and he finished as India’s top-scorer. His century at Perth is regarded as one of his greatest Test innings and won him many plaudits. The right-arm fast bowler claimed that the Indian batting great impressed Australians. He said that they believed that Sachin had the potential to become a great batsman for the Indian team.

Virat Kohli reminds Lawson of Tendulkar

Virat struggled in his first two Test matches in Australia but came into his own after the third Test in Perth in 2012. Since then, he has played well down under, as he seems to relish the challenge. Lawson said that Kohli reminds him of Sachin Tendulkar.

“It took him a while, but I don’t think he had too much to worry about. The one current player who reminds me of Sachin, a bit of him, is, of course, Virat Kohli. On his first tour of Australia, he was the one who took the fight back to the Australians,” he added.

The master blaster took 201 International wickets in his career as batsmen struggled to pick his variations. Lawson said that Sachin enjoyed bowling, and added that his variations impressed him. He said that he was surprised that the Indian never tried to bowl left-handed as another variation.

The 60-year-old also talked about his tenure as a commentator, he said that he enjoyed giving commentary when Tendulkar faced Shane Warne.

“I admired his focus on his purpose when he was at the crease. One of the great joys of watching as a commentator was “watching Warne versus Tendulkar,” Lawson concluded.

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