Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting is of the opinion that Sachin Tendulkar is the best batter he has ever played against and that the 'Master Blaster' was able to tackle any bowlers that he faced. The World Cup-winning star batter however chose not to compare current India great Virat Kohli to Tendulkar given how much the former opener achieved with the national team.
"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," Ponting said on 'ICC Review' on the eve of Tendulkar's 50th birthday.
"It's hard to rank and judge players as everyone is different and everyone plays the game differently. But certainly, through the generation that I played, he was technically the best player that I saw. Trying to compare the times and I know Virat played a little bit in the back end of when Sachin played, but it is a bit of a different game now," Ponting said.
"There are different rules, for instance, around 50-over cricket, with fewer fielders outside the circle, two new balls, it makes it a lot easier now for batting than probably ever before. There's no doubt that the bats have got better. Field restrictions and new balls is a big part of it as well," he opined.
He indicated that during Tendulkar's era, facing the old ball, which was reverse swinging, was indeed a tough task. "When Sachin was playing ODIs, the ball at the end of a 50-over game was very hard to see. It was very soft. It was very hard to hit, it swung in reverse. You don't see that at all in the modern 50-over game," said the cricket pundit.
To make his point clear, Ponting recalled the 241 runs that Tendulkar hit against Australia at the SCG during the drawn fourth Test of the 2003-04 series. Ponting, who was a part of Steve Waugh's side then, said it was awe-inspiring to watch the Indian player's straight drives.
"I think his straight driving was his best shot. 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."
That marathon innings helped the Sourav Ganguly-led side post 705 for seven declared. Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 60 in the second innings.
"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," he added.
READ ALSO:
Watch: Zimbabwe U-19 players rejoice inside Wankhede Stadium after country's superstar Sikandar Raza pays for their ticket
IPL 2023: Arshdeep Singh inflicts heavy monetary loss on BCCI after breaking middle stump in two halves in back-to-back deliveries
(With PTI Inputs)
