Sunday 15th November 2009
Gavaskar: Tendulkar is beyond compare
Sachin Tendulkar has managed an achievement beyond compare, feels Sunil Gavaskar, who considers him the greatest batsman ever.
"I think, apart from Sir Garfield Sobers nobody else has played 20 years in international cricket and 20 years playing at the very highest level and to the very highest standard is an achievement beyond compare," Gavaskar said of the 36-year-old, who completed his two decades in international cricket today.
"No place can be too high for this young man and he is young because as far as his enthusiasm for the game is concerned, he is almost childlike. That is what is keeping him going on and on," he told 'CNN-IBN'.
Gavaskar, himself a celebrated batsman of his era, said he started understanding cricket only post 1960 and is yet to see a batsman as complete as Tendulkar.
Watch MS Dhoni and Ricky Ponting's comments after Sachin crossed the 17000 run mark in ODIs
"Since 1960, from when I started to understand a little bit of cricket, he has been the greatest batsman that the game has seen," he said.
Part of the select few to whom Tendulkar turns to advice for batting, Gavaskar said he likes to set challenges for the Little Master.
"I prod him a little all the time. I ask him to get to that next double hundred, that next century or the those next thousand runs. I always challenge him a little bit," he said.
"The immediate target that I have set for him is the 2011 World Cup. I want him to win that for India," he added.
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