Ricky Ponting opens up on Sachin Tendulkar’s batting genius
The world of cricket has been bestowed with several renowned players who defined the game in different ways. Consequently, April 24, marks a special day as one of the greatest legends to have graced the sport was born. A man who lived a billion dreams and aspirations of the billion Indian cricket fans and budding cricketers alike. He is one of the greatest cricket icons who is none other than the greatest Indian opener, Sachin Tendulkar.
Interestingly enough, several legends have had their views on Tendulkar. Regarding his very presence in the game and how he went about it. In the same vein, the former Australia skipper and world champion, Ricky Ponting, was asked about his opinions on the batting technique of the ‘Master Blaster’.
Ponting hailed the legendary Indian to be technically the soundest batter he has ever witnessed to date. Moreover, he also added that the explosive batter always found a way to counter the opposition team. And its bowlers and it did not really make a difference whether they were playing with him or against him. Furthermore, due to tough playing conditions and rules in his era, he deemed his comparison with any other batter as unfair.
“I’ve said forever Sachin’s technically the best batter that I’ve ever seen and played with or against. Whatever plan that we came up with as a bowling group, he found a way to combat it, whether it was in India or Australia,” the legendary Australian said.
Ricky Ponting furthermore admired the strokeplay of the batting genius. Recalling his memorable double century (241* runs) knock against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which resulted in a draw in 2004, he deemed his straight drive and using the full face of the bat as his trademark. Notably, during that innings, Tendulkar tried to avoid playing through the off side to avoid giving any chances whatsoever to edge one in the slip cordon. He showed his genius of playing the ball straight down the ground along with manoeuvring the ball through the on-side region despite playing a marathon knock which frustrated the Australians to the core.
“The trademark things you think about with Tendulkar was just seeing the full face of that bat coming straight back down the line of the ball and straight back past the bowler. So I think that’d be his trademark for sure,” Ricky Ponting stated during an episode of ‘The ICC Review’ show ahead of Tendulkar’s 50th birthday.
Furthermore, Ponting who himself is one of the greatest pullers of the ball, acknowledged how the Mumbai-born batter could punch the ball down the ground by getting on the top of the bounce of the ball despite having a short height.
“Whether it be on the front foot or even back foot- because he was short in stature, he won’t mind me saying that- he was able to sort of stand up on top of the bounce of the ball and punch it back down the ground, off the front foot or back foot,” Ponting concluded.
Sachin Tendulkar produced some of the finest batting performances against Australia
Not many people know that Sachin Tendulkar started in the game of cricket as a non-opener. He made his debut on November 15 in 1988 against the Arch-rivals, Pakistan. Interestingly enough, during that match, he got into the field as a number six batter. He could only manage to score 15 runs but surely impressed the world-class Pakistani bowling lineup. Moreover, he was the youngest player to have played international cricket at that time. The legendary batter was aged just 16 years old.
Since then Tendulkar has produced many finest knocks one will ever get to see. But Australia have been one challenging and one of the most favourite opponents of the Indian legend. Apart from his marvellous double hundred, his hundred in Perth is deemed as one of the finest knocks to have been played in Australia against Australia. As a 19-year-old, Sachin went on to smack a memorable ton on the fastest pitch of the world at that time at the iconic WACA ground.
The ultimate moment happened for Sachin Tendulkar after a few years. The greatest player of cricket, the late Sir Don Bradman told his wife that Tendulkar was the closest replication of himself. Notably, Tendulkar has played an incredible 200 Tests amassing 15,921 runs with 51 centuries. While in the ODI format, the legend has featured in an incredible 463 games. Whereby, he smacked 18,426 runs including the first-ever double hundred in men’s ODI history.
