Sachin would have scored over 1.3 lakh runs had he batted in current era, opines Shoaib Akhtar

Having made his debut way back in 1989, Sachin Tendulkar traversed through many an era, combatting some of the greatest bowlers to have stepped foot onto the cricket field. From Curtly Ambrose to Imran Khan to Glenn McGrath to Shane Warne to Dale Steyn, Sachin, in his 24-year international career, locked himself into epic battles with many a great bowler and, often, came out on the winning side.

All the aforementioned legends aside, legendary Pakistan quick Shoaib Akhtar, too, had intriguing battles with the Master Blaster and according to the Rawalpindi Express, Sachin batted in the toughest era of cricket. The 44-year-old, who now has a renowned YouTube channel, remarked that the Little Master would have scored over 1.3 Lakh runs in this era and added that it’s not fair to compare his numbers with that of Virat Kohli’s.

"Tendulkar batted in the toughest era of cricket. If he had to get the chance now, he may hit more than 1.30 lakh runs. So it's not good to make a comparison between Sachin and Kohli,” Akhtar was quoted as saying by news18.

Despite having scored 100 tons, Sachin’s 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup is widely regarded to be one of his best knocks, a game where he dismantled the pace trio of Akhtar, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram. Akhtar, who dismissed Sachin on 98 in that game, stated that he, in fact, was disappointed to get Sachin out, as he wanted to see the Little Master score a deserved century.

"I was very sad because Sachin got out for 98. It was special innings, he should have touched the century mark. I wanted him to hit the century. For that bouncer, I would have loved to see a sixer, as earlier he hit,” the 44-year-old said.

The veteran cricketer also opined that closed door games might not be marketable and added that he hopes for the Covid-19 virus to vanish within a year, so that things can get back to normal.

"Playing cricket in the empty stadium may be viable and durable for Cricket boards. But I do not think we can market this. Playing cricket in an empty stadium is like marriage without a bride. We need crowds to play games. I hope the corona situation will be normalized within a year."