New Delhi: Former players were on Sunday effusive in their praise for Sachin Tendulkar who became the first man in the history of Test cricket to post 50 centuries.
The champion batsman scaled the milestone when he drove Dale Steyn for a single on the fourth day of the first Test against South Africa at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
"It was an absolutely outstanding innings, an outstanding milestone in history of cricket," said former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar.
"He has been performing outstandingly in all three formats of the game and it requires tremendous physical and mental fitness and focus and passion for the game," Vengsarkar, with whom Tendulkar had played quite a bit of cricket in his initial years, said.
Vengsarkar said that Tendulkar's 50 Test ton was a lesson for youngsters.
"What he did today on foreign soil was a lesson for those in the dressing room, especially the youngsters."
"It has never happened in the history of cricket and I don't think anybody would ever reach such a milestone considering the number of T20 and one-day matches they play these days," Vengsarkar added.
"It's been 21 years but he has retained the same enthusiasm, which I saw in 1988. He is so focussed, so passionate and disciplined," Vengsarkar added.
"Everytime he occopies the crease, there is a record," he said.
Former India opener and chairman of the selection committee, Kris Srikkanth, described Tendulkar as the "god of world cricket" and termed his achievement as "super human effort".
"He is god of world cricket and it's a super human effort. He has dedicated 21 years of in international cricket and that's amazing," Srikkanth said moments after the 37-year-old Mumbaikar reached the coveted landmark.
"When you score in difficult conditions, that has to be taken into account," Srikkanth added.
India had their backs to the wall after South Africa piled up a massive 620 for declared in reply to the visitors' paltry first-innings total.
0 comments:
Post a Comment