I'm waiting to see who will break Sachin Tendulkar's mountain of runs: Inzamam-ul-Haq

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s success story is an epitome of what one can achieve when outrageous talent meets relentless work ethics. The teenage prodigy who was earmarked for greatness, right from the day he made his Test debut against Pakistan in 1989, went on to rule the cricketing landscape for the next 24 years.

During those 24 years of dominance, Tendulkar racked up a barely believable 34,357 runs from a total of 664 matches across formats- including 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and one T20I, which is head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. The Master Blaster is followed by Kumar Sangakkara who racked up 28,016 runs during his celebrated career.

In contemporary cricket, it is only Virat Kohli- 21,884 at 56.40- who is primed to scale Mount. Tendulkar. Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq believes that the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar was born to play cricket and he is looking forward to seeing if anyone from the current era can break the Mumbaikar’s records.

“He was born for cricket. I always believed cricket and he were made for each other. I’m talking about the ever great Sachin Tendulkar,” Inzamam said on his YouTube channel.

He added, “It still amazes me that at a tender age of 16-17, he made his international debut and did such great things. This is only possible by some extraordinary cricketer, in fact, if there is anything above extraordinary then that is Sachin”

What is Sachin’s biggest quality according to Inzamam?

Tendulkar played a plethora of world-class bowlers during his era including the likes of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis at the age of 16, something that always startled Inzamam.

“It’s easier said than done. He was playing against the likes of Waqar (Younis) and Wasim (Akram) on his debut at 16 years of age. The kind of cricket he played against that bowling attack was startling.” Inzamam said.

The Master Blaster has almost all the batting records to his name including most runs, most hundreds across formats and Inzi believes that that was his biggest quality.

“The second biggest quality I believe was his records. During that era, the concept of scoring this many runs wasn’t even there. The great players used to be finished with 8-8.5 thousand runs. Only Sunil Gavaskar had scored 10 thousand runs and it seemed that record will never be broken. But Sachin broke all records of scoring runs. Now I’m waiting to see who will break Sachin’s mountain of runs,” Inzamam added.

‘Tendulkar was mentally so tough’- Inzamam-ul-Haq

One thing that makes Tendulkar’s achievements even more astounding is the fact that he carried the burden of 1.3 billion Indians, every time he walked out to bat and was still able to come out trumps on most of the occasion.

“He was mentally so tough. I’m saying this because when Sachin used to come out to bat, he was always under pressure. I have never seen more fan following of a cricketer than Sachin’s. He had fans all around the world. There was pressure on him to score in every innings,” said Inzamam.

Inzamam reveals leg-spinner Tendulkar as his biggest nemesis

Apart from his outwardly batting talent, Tendulkar was a more than the handy bowler, who could do a bit of everything- off-spin, leg-spin or medium pace. Tendulkar got the better of Inzi with his leg-spin on numerous occasions and the former captain admitted that despite facing a plethora of world-class leg-spinners, it was Sachin who troubled him the most.

“He was such a genius cricketer that he could bowl leg-spin, off-spin, medium pace. I had faced many great leg-spinners, never had troubles in reading their googlies but it was only Sachin who gave me troubles and got me out many times,” he admitted.

Tendulkar played for 24 years before finally hanging his boots in 2013 but Inzamam still believes that Sachin should never have gone away from cricket.

“I don’t think there has been a player like him in cricket, maybe someone in the future who will score this many runs. Sachin should have continued playing. He used to be so enjoyable to watch. He should have never gone away from cricket,” he added.

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