Karachi, Nov 17: Sachin Tendulkar’s durability and consistency set him apart from his contemporary greats and he was “indisputably best batsman of the world” at one stage, a Pakistani daily wrote in its editorial tribute to the just-retired cricket legend.
Tendulkar’s awe-inspiring career ended yesterday as he bid adieu to the game after playing in his 200th Test.
“During an international career which spanned a scarcely believable quarter century, Sachin epitomised consistency. He ended his career as the highest ever run getter in both Tests and ODIs and his 100 international centuries will surely never be matched,” said The News International editorial titled ‘Sachin’.
“Sachin Tendulkar never had the swagger of a Lara, the grit of a Waugh or the languid stylishness of a Sangakkara but he possessed the one quality that no one else could match: durability,” the editorial said.
The newspaper chided his detractors, saying, “it has now become fashionable to take a contrarian view of Sachin, to point out that many batsmen have better averages than him and that his centuries nearly always seemed to be in a losing cause.”
“These people forget that for a golden period of 1994-2004, which is the length of an average player’s career, Sachin was indisputably the best batsman in the world. His drop-off in form in the last couple of years is the norm for any ageing cricketer, except Sachin was able to postpone the ravages of age longer than most cricketers,” the editorial added. (PTI)
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