'I made his name': ENG legend settles Virat Kohli vs Sachin Tendulkar vs Sunil Gavaskar debate with shocking claim

Former English cricketer Allan Lamb has named Sachin Tendulkar as his favorite batter, picking him as the greatest ever from India.

Allan Lamb, the 71-year-old, is a great from England who has represented the team across two formats of the game, as he has played 79 Tests and represented England in three World Cups. Having played against a younger Sachin, he has remarked on him as the greatest ever from India.

"I played against him when he was 18. I dropped him at slip, and he went on to get 100 (in a test match). So I always say to him, It was me that made your name," Lamb revealed to PTI, as he claimed, "Sachin easily," when asked about who is the best Indian batter ever produced.

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

Allan Lamb then reasoned why he claims Sachin to be the best, placing him ahead of Sunil Gavaskar or Virat Kohli.

"Kohli is a brilliant player; he's got all the shots, and he can score quickly. But if you want the best player I played against, that Indian player is Sachin, even ahead of Sunny," said the former English great.

Lamb lauds former teammate Kapil Dev

However, keeping aside the debate of India's best player, Allan Lamb has picked the former Indian skipper and veteran all-rounder Kapil Dev as his favourite cricketer from India.

It was during the English County days that he shared the dressing room with former World Cup-winning Indian captain Kapil Dev for the county team Northampton. Kapil Dev was seen as a standout bowler in those days in the world; however, his deep urge to improve his batting skills impressed Lamb the most.

"I remember him coming over and me saying, 'Kapi, I'm so pleased that you've come over. We need to strengthen our bowling.' He said, 'No, I haven't come to strengthen my bowling. I've come to better my batting. I've come here as a batsman,' which I always enjoyed," said Lamb.

Sachin Tendulkar—arguably India's most successful batter

Sachin Tendulkar undoubtedly has one of the greatest records in the world of cricket, as he is considered the most prolific batsman of the game. Sachin Tendulkar has appeared in 310 first-class matches and 551 List A career matches.

The great batsman has 47,395 runs in his career, combining the two formats of the game, while the batter also had a huge impact in international cricket for the Men in Blue.

Having made his debut against Pakistan back in 1989, Sachin Tendulkar had an illustrious career of 24 years. He went on to star in 200 Test matches in his career and has scored 15,921 runs, the most by a batter in the world. He also has the most hundreds in the format, with 51 hundreds to his name.

In the white-ball format as well, Sachin is far above his challengers with 18,426 runs in his career spanning over 2 decades, where he played in 463 ODIs. Sachin Tendulkar is among the few greats to have scored a double-century in both red-ball and white-ball cricket.

Sachin retired with a legacy of 100 international centuries and an average of 53.79 in Tests and 44.83 in ODIs. He also picked up 200 wickets in his international career.

ALSO READ: Ravi Shastri blocks any move to sack Shubman Gill until 2027

Virat Kohli retired from Tests: Where does he stand among Indian test batters?

India has never been the nation producing several greats in the longest format of the game. Sachin Tendulkar to date remains above all Indian batters as the greatest ever Test cricketer due to his hefty run tally.

Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar, the two batters who follow Tendulkar in the list of highest Test run-getters for India, were also considered among the greatest, citing their record. To this list of veterans, the great Virat Kohli ended his career with 9230 runs in the red-ball format. Having played 123 matches, his average dipped below 50 towards the end of his career.