Staff Writer – Archi
Sachin Tendulkar was in for a pleasant surprise as West Indies legend Brian Lara paid a visit to the former’s residence in Mumbai, India this week. It seemed to be an impromptu meeting between two of modern day’s greatest batsmen as the visit was not pre-planned and even took Tendulkar by surprise.
But the little master was so overwhelmed by Lara’s visit that he uploaded a picture of the two legends on the social networking sites — Twitter and Facebook — on Sunday morning.
“Guess who dropped in at home…? An amazing player and a wonderful friend :-),” Tendukar wrote on his twitter handle, referring to Lara, who has been the Indian’s long-time contemporary in international cricket.
Tendulkar’s failure in the recent Test series against New Zealand may have triggered a debate on whether he should retire now but the West Indian batting great reckoned that Tendulkar still has a “year or two” of cricket left in him.
Sanchin and Lara in the old days. Courtesy eruditesays.blogspot.com
“I know he has already exited from the Twenty20 version of the game, I am not sure if he is still playing the 50 over game but may be another year or two in the Test cricket is left in him … maybe still defining himself at the top of scoring the most runs in both the Test and One Day Internationals,” Lara said.The former West Indies captain, who started his international career a year after his Indian contemporary, said that Tendulkar has been phenomenal and would be missed by the cricket world whenever he decides to hang up his boots.
“I think he (Tendulkar) has done a wonderful job. Somebody who started playing cricket, I am not sure whether he was 15 or 16, and he is still there. So he started maybe a year or two before myself and has gone on to play five years after I have done,” he told a television channel during a visit to India recently.
Sanchin and Lara at Wimbledon. Courtesy sachinist.com
“I think he is approaching 25 years of international cricket, that is something all Indians should be proud of, not just Sachin,” the veteran of 131 Test matches said. “We know he had a few injuries and to be able to play that length of time and stay at the top of the pile in runs, is just class and sheer ability, I think he has done a tremendous job and world cricket is gonna miss someone like that when he leaves,” he said.
The 43-year-old Lara, who has often been rated at par with the Indian maestro, hailed Tendulkar as a thorough gentleman and someone the world of cricket would be proud of. “I think he has done a tremendous job and I have only praise for someone like that. I have played with him on a few occasions and played against him, I think he has been a gentleman and the one world cricket should be proud of,” Lara said.
