Among the captains I played against, I consider Nasser Hussain the best: Sachin Tendulkar

Batting great Sachin Tendulkar has rated former English captain Nasser Hussain as the best captain he had played against during his illustrious career. Tendulkar called him as an excellent strategist who had the ability to read the batsmen’s mind and place the field accordingly.

“Among the captains I played against, I consider Nasser Hussain the best. He was an excellent strategist and even if some of his tactics occasionally bordered on the negative – using the left-arm spinner Ashley Giles to bowl to me outside my leg stump from over the wicket, for example – he was a very good thinker about the game and was proactive,” Tendulkar wrote in his autobiography ‘Playing it My Way’.

“Nasser would not place a fielder in a particular position after a shot was played. Rather, he had the ability to anticipate the shot and would place a fielder well in advance, making a real difference to his team,” added Tendulkar whose international career spanned 24 years.

When he decided to call it quits after playing his 200th Test against West Indies on his home ground, he had almost all batting records which anyone can ever imagine of and his 100 international centuries will forever remain the highlight of his career.

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Tendulkar also heaped praises on Michael Clarke who captained the Australian team from 2011 to 2015 and also led them to World Cup glory in 2015. He rated Clarke ahead of former greats like Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting.

“Among the Australians, I rate Michael Clarke as the best captain I played against. While I was too young to judge Allan Border in 1992, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting benefited from having some of the greatest players of our generation in their teams. With so many match-winners, the role of the captain is automatically reduced,” he wrote.

He also has high regards for former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith who took over the reign as a 22 years old way back in 2003 when the team was going through tumultuous conditions. “Graeme Smith of South Africa is yet another player I have great regard for as skipper. Taking over the reins of the side at the age of 22 in the most tumultuous of conditions, Smith did brilliantly to propel South Africa to the top of the world Test rankings,” Sachin concluded.