Sachin Tendulkar Was Harder To Dislodge Than Brian Lara: Jason Gillespie

Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Charles Lara? Who is the greatest among the equals? The debate has raged on for decades and even after seven and thirteen years of their respective retirements from International cricket, fans, pundits and former cricketers can’t help but engage themselves in picking the better batsman out of the two legends.

Recently, former bowlers in South Africa’s Shaun Pollock and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi chose had their say as to who was the toughest batsmen to bowl to between Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. While Afridi chose the ‘Prince of Trinidad and Tobago’, Pollock went for the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar.

Former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie, who had his fair share of battles with the duo has now joined the bandwagon. The former pacer-turned coach, who played 71 Tests for his 401 wickets along with 97 ODIs said that Indian genius was more difficult to dislodge as compared to Lara.

Also Read: Brian Lara Was The Toughest Batsman I Bowled Against: Shahid Afridi

Sachin Tendulkar’s defense made him very difficult to dislodge

Sachin Tendulkar defense is the closest to batting perfection while Brian Lara was more of an artist, whose high Backlift and gorgeous strokeplay enthralled the folklore for almost two decades.

Gillespie revealed that while he never felt that Tendulkar would take him apart, his technique made it pretty difficult for the former Australian to dislodge him.

“Two different types of players, two equally difficult to get out. I always felt, Sachin was probably a little bit harder to dislodge, in terms of getting his wicket, but I didn’t feel he would take you apart, in quite the same way as Brian,” Gillespie said on Cow Corner Chronicles.

Gillespie reckoned that due to Lara’s extravagant strokeplay, he always felt he had more of a chance to get the West Indian out.

“I always felt I was in with more of a chance to get Brian out because he was a bit more expansive, with his game. But I found Sachin’s defense was very hard to get through,” the former Aussie pacer added.

Lara and Tendulkar broke a plethora of records during their careers. While the West Indian holds the feat of being the only batsman to score 400 in a Test inning, Tendulkar has the most runs and the most number of centuries (100) in both forms of the game.

Also Read: Ishant Sharma’s “Thurst For Knowledge” Impressed Jason Gillespie The Most During His Stint At Sussex