Mental toughness made Sachin Tendulkar a legend, opines Inzamam-ul-Haq

Despite retiring from international cricket six years ago, Sachin Tendulkar remains one the most loved and admired batsman amongst cricket fans across the globe. On Monday, Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq gave the greatest tribute to Sachin Tendulkar on the 10th anniversary of the little master's historic double century in ODIs.  

Inzamam said he had never seen a cricketer like Sachin, who became the first-ever cricketer to score an ODI double hundred when he achieved the feat against South Africa at Gwalior on February 24, 2010.

"He was born for cricket. I always believed cricket and he were made for each other. I'm talking about the ever great Sachin Tendulkar. It still amazes me that at a tender age of 16-17, he made his international debut and did such great things. This is only possible by some extraordinary cricketer, in fact, if there is anything above extraordinary then that is Sachin,” said Inzamam, as quoted by Times of India.

"The second biggest quality I believe was his records. During that era, the concept of scoring this many runs wasn't even there. The great players used to be finished with 8-8.5 thousand runs. Only Sunil Gavaskar had scored 10 thousand runs and it seemed that record will never be broken. But Sachin broke all records of scoring runs. Now I'm waiting to see who will break Sachin's mountain of runs," the former Pakistan skipper added.

Sachin is also the only cricketer in the world to have scored a hundred international centuries. Ever since making his international debut in 1989, Sachin carried Indian cricket on his shoulders for more than two decades and Inzamam lauded the legendary Indian batsman for the same, heaping praise on Sachin for delivering despite carrying the weight of a nation on his shoulders.

"He was mentally so tough. I'm saying this because when Sachin used to come out to bat, he was always under pressure. I have never seen more fan following of a cricketer than Sachin's. He had fans all around the world. There was pressure on him to score in every innings.” 

Sachin was also a handy bowler, with leg-spin, off-spin and medium pace - basically everything - in his arsenal. Inzamam said he always found Sachin's googlies to be very deceptive and revealed that he never used to read them. Inzamam concluded by saying that if it were to him, he would've never allowed Sachin to stop playing cricket as watching him bat used to be such a delight to the eyes.

"He was such a genius cricketer that he could bowl leg-spin, off-spin, medium pace. I had faced many great leg-spinners, never had troubles in reading their googlies but it was only Sachin who gave me troubles and got me out many times. I don't think there has been a player like him in cricket, maybe someone in the future who will score this many runs. Sachin should have continued playing. He used to be so enjoyable to watch. He should have never gone away from cricket.”