Sachin Tendulkar Names The Only Current Bowler In World Cricket Who Can Challenge Him

Not many bowlers have managed to have the wood on the former batting legend, Sachin Tendulkar, during his illustrious career. While the likes of Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Curtly Ambrose and many others did trouble him reasonably, but Sachin Tendulkar humbled them at some point. The 47-year old, who thrives on challenges, has opted the challenge of facing Rashid Khan when asked which bowler he would love to take on from the present era.

Afghanistan spin-bowler Rashid Khan is arguably one of the best spinners that exist today. Rashid Khan gained recognition primarily by playing for the SunRisers Hyderabad in IPL, where he managed to make several international batsmen look clueless against his variations. The 22-year old, who is an absolute gun bowler, holds the number one ranking for bowlers in T20I cricket and is also rising through the ranks in Tests.

Sachin Tendulkar said that if he had to face one bowler from the present era, it would be Rashid Khan since he has heard a lot about his bowling. The variations of the wrist-spin bowler, including googly, leg-spin, top-spin have impressed the leading run-scorer in Test and ODI cricket. Hence, Tendulkar reckons it would be fun facing him.

“If I have to face one bowler from this generation, it would be Rashid [Khan]. Almost everyone has talked so much about his bowling and I’ve also enjoyed it . So it will be interesting to face him… because the way he disguises – the googly, leg spin and top spin – he has quite a few variations. It would be fun to actually go out and face him,” Tendulkar said while replying to a question during the Q&A session on his Youtube channel.

Sachin Tendulkar reflects on the challenges of batting in ODIs during night time:

The former right-handed batsman played during an era when only one ball was used during day and night ODI games and the discolouration of the same made it challenging to face. The toughest task was to pick the shiny side and the rough side since the ball would reverse and the batsmen did not find comfortable in middling it.

“When the sun is going down – during Day Night ODI matches. I played during the time when just one ball was used. So the discolouration made that particular phase rather challenging… to pick the shiny side and the rough side because the ball would reverse. It made batters’ lives challenging. The ball would also sometimes get soft. Bowlers and fielder will put a lot of sweat, and in those days, saliva too. So the ball would reverse,” he added.

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