Sachin is the greatest batsman after Don Bradman: Ricky Ponting

If someone really had a chance to break Sachin Tendulkar’s invincible batting records it was the former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting. Ponting in his piece for a book titled ‘Tendulkar in Wisden: An Anthology’ has called Sachin Tendulkar the all-time best batsman after Sir Donald Bradman.

It reads: “For me, he’s the greatest batsman after Don Bradman. While I hold Brian Lara in high regard because of his match winning ability, I don’t think any batsman can achieve more out of the game than Sachin has,”

“The word great is often bandied about, but great is something that’s achieved over a long period of time. Sachin played 200 Tests and 463 ODIs (and one Twenty20 International), scored 34,357 runs and 100 international hundreds — that is great.

“Younger players may reach No.1 over a period of 12 or 18 months — that’s not great. That’s having a good year. If you can do it as long as Sachin did, only then you be considered great,” he further stated.

The five words through which he chose to describe Sachin are — “competitive, passionate, driven, composed, complete”.

“Sachin is the greatest batsman I ever played with or against, because he made batting look so simple. His technique was always rock solid, but he still managed to take the game away from you really quickly. He was the most rounded batsman I have known,” he wrote.

It was the Indian batsman’s hunger to continuously do well and achieve his dreams that astonished Ponting the most.

“His abiding love for the game and pursuit of goals were astonishing — just to keep motivating yourself every day for 24 years to stay hungry and fit is what I admire so much. He had dreams of winning a World Cup, and he finally got to do it in his sixth tournament, in 2011.”

He also mentioned that it’s impossible “anyone will ever play 200 Tests again, or score 100 hundreds” another record that Sachin holds. Ponting went on to further state that the master blaster was always ahead and others just tried to catch up.

“We were always always trying to play catch-up, and he always managed to stay ahead. It was an indication of his class. Even though he is a couple of years older than I am, it seemed he would outlast me — and he did.”

“It was good to talk to him about his batting philosophy, to get an insight into his mindset and fundamentals. I was also fortunate to get a real sense of his approach to batting — the intricate attention paid to every detail about equipment, preparation, technique — and it was unlike anything I had ever seen,” said Ponting.

We’ve all heard stories of the Australian team putting in additional time to just work out strategies to tackle Tendulkar. The former skipper confirmed it saying, “…how we were going to bowl to him and, if we were lucky, get him out. He was not just a gifted batsman, but had the mental side of his game sorted out too.

“At Sydney in 2003-04, when he was going through rough time, he didn’t play a single cover-drive: I had immense appreciation for that level of discipline and determination. It’s one thing to have a plan, but to go out there and execute it over the course of the innings that lasted 10 hours and 13 minutes, 436 balls and 241 runs was just incredible. And he was still not out at the end of it,” Ponting recalled.

He also called Sachin a “mild-mannered guy” on and off the cricket field.

“He was always a mild-mannered guy who never let his emotions get the better of him on the field. And that’s what he’s like off the field too — calm and relaxed. But you can see he gets nervous around the changing room. I enjoyed sitting back and observing him — he has his tics and superstitions,” Ponting, who led Australia in 77 Tests and 247 limited-overs games, wrote.

Ricky Ponting also thanked the IPL where he coaches the Mumbai Indians, as it proved to be a gateway for him to get to know Tendulkar better.

“Over the last couple of years — during my association with the Mumbai Indians — I’ve got to know him better. …it was a delight to get to know him away from the publicity’s glare and over a glass of wine — Sachin and I have done a lot of that over the last couple of years, and I think we’ve both been able to appreciate each other a lot more as a result,” Ponting said.