Legendary spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan says he was not afraid of bowling to great bowlers Sachin Tendulkar Because Indian maestro won’t hurt him like Virender Sehwag or Brian Lara.
Among the current players, international cricket’s highest wicket-taker said that India’s Virat Kohli and Pakistan’s Babar Azam would have played him well.
“For Sachin, there was no fear of bowling because he won’t hurt you. Unlike Sehwag who can hurt you. Because he (Sachin) will defend his wicket, he is a good reader of the ball and he knows the technique,” Muralitharan said during a conversation with Aakash Chopra on ESPNcricinfo.
Muralitharan, the only bowler to take 800 Test wickets, said, “I realized in my career, Sachin had a minor weakness against off-spin. With leg spin he smashes but with off-spin somehow he found difficulty because I Got him out many times.And so many off-spinners have seen him so many times, I have seen it.
“I don’t know, I never talked to him about, ‘Why aren’t you comfortable with off-spin?’ I felt that I have some weakness in my mind so I got a slight advantage over other players. Sachin is a difficult player, it is very difficult to get him out.
Muralitharan, who apart from his Test exploits has also taken 530 wickets in ODIs, had dismissed Tendulkar 13 times in his career.
He also spoke highly of Sehwag and Lara, rating them as two of the toughest batsmen he had bowled to during his illustrious career.
“Sehwag is so dangerous, we hired deep fielders for him because I know he will go for his chances. He used to go for his instincts and he knew that ‘on my day I will attack anyone I want’. So what we will do is go to the defensive zone and wait for him to make a mistake,” Muralitharan said.
He added, “But what Virender Sehwag does is make sure that he plays for two hours of the day and scores 150 or if he plays all day he will score 300 runs, which was his attitude.
“So these kind of players were dangerous for us are our match winners.”
When asked about the current batsmen, he picked Kohli and Babar.
Kohli is a good player of spin, especially in Test cricket. Babar Azam seems to be one of the better players.”
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