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Sachin would have been equally good in any other era: Abbas

Zaheer Abbas believes that it will be extremely difficult for India to get another player of Sachin Tendulkar's calibre.

Mumbai: Legendary Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas believes that it will be extremely difficult for India to get "another player of Sachin Tendulkar's calibre" and says the retiring great would have been as successful a player had he been born in any other era.

"It will be extremely difficult for India to get a player of Sachin Tendulkar's calibre. The joy that he has given to people like us can't be described in words and people like me have learnt from him even if we had retired much before he came into the international scene," former Pakistan captain Abbas told PTI in an exclusive interview.

Abbas, who scored more than 5000 runs in his 78 Tests, stated with conviction that although Test cricket was tougher in 1970's and early 80's compared to now, Tendulkar would have been equally successful in those eras also.

"I feel it's unfair to compare cricketers of two different eras. Myself and Sunil (Gavaskar) played at a time when you had Andy Roberts, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Michael Holding and later Malcolm Marshall at their peak. It was an era which required different kind of mindset and courage.

"But a great player is a great player irrespective of the era in which he plays. I firmly believe that Tendulkar would have got as much success against Lillee, Roberts or Marshall as he got against Lee, McGrath or Shoaib Akhtar. All because of a proper technique and enormous courage to play fast bowling," the 66-year-old former Pakistan captain said.

Abbas was present at the National Stadium in Karachi in 1989, when Tendulkar made his debut and also remembers watching him play in all the other three Tests in that series.

"When I found a schoolboy getting hit by Waqar Younis and not even show that he is hurt, it was something that caught my attention. He had already become a man at 16. If you can face Waqar with confidence, who was the fastest at that time along with Wasim Akram, then you are certainly destined for greatness," Abbas said.Abbas, who was hailed as 'Asian Bradman' at his prime by the British Media for his prolific scoring, said that Tendulkar is no less an achiever than Sir Don.

"We haven't watched Sir Don Bradman live but heard stories about his famous concentration and determination. I guess Sachin is up there in that list alongside Sir Don."

Questioned on comparisons with one of Tendulkar's contemporaries Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abbas said that the difference was in consistency level.

"Inzamam was an incredibly gifted cricketer who served Pakistan cricket with distinction. I believe the difference between Sachin and Inzy was that Sachin was more consistent of the two, that made his figures look even more prolific."

One of the most elegant batsmen of 1970's, Abbas said that he marvelled at how Tendulkar managed to generate so much power in his shots from a short backlift.

"I don't think anyone in world cricket could pack such a punch in their drives with that short backlift. If you analyse his batting closely, Tendulkar never had that big backlift and also the follow through after playing the shot.

"Technically, the pivot that one needs to generate that kind of power in a shot was very little. I know many players tried to imitate Tendulkar and failed badly as they never had the technique to copy him," Abbas said.

His one-time teammate Javed Miandad recently questioned the timing of Tendulkar's retirement but Abbas felt that "it's the right time as he also got to play his 200th Test match".

"Look the volume of cricket played by India is much more than us. That's why, despite playing for 16 years, I couldn't play more than 78 Test matches.

"Sachin might not have scored too many centuries (in last 2-3 years) but he played some good knocks and didn't look out of place. Look at his record of 100 international centuries. I had 108 first-class hundreds because I played a lot of county cricket but I know how much effort it took to score those many," said Abbas, who scored nearly 35,000 first-class runs.

According to Abbas, one of Tendulkar's biggest contribution in recent years was being the guiding light for the younger crop of players like Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma and see through the transition phase.

"I believe Tendulkar's presence for the last three to four years has helped the Kohlis, Pujaras and Rohits to develop into players of international class. When a change of guard happens in international teams, you need a role model who can guide the younger boys through that phase. Tedulkar, like a true champion, has done just that."

( Source : PTI )
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