'Waiting to see who will break Sachin's mountain of runs': Inzamam-ul-Haq
Lahore, Feb 25: Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is waiting to see who breaks Sachin Tendulkar's record for most number of runs in international cricket.
Batting legend Tendulkar has 34,357 runs from a combined 664 matches including 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and one T20I, which is way above the rest of the pack.
Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara is next with 28,016 career runs. India skipper and run-machine Virat Kohli is tipped to go close to Tendulkar's record by many. But Inzamam said he is waiting to see who breaks Tendulkar's record and that the Master Blaster should have played more than he had.
"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," Inzamam said on his youtube channel.
"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.
"It's easier said than done. He was playing against the likes of Waqar (Younis) and Wasim (Akram) on his debut at 16 years of age. The kind of cricket he played against that bowling attack was startling."
Tendulkar is also the only cricketer in the world to have scored a hundred international centuries.
"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," Inzamam added.
He also pointed out that Tendulkar had great mental strength as he was always under pressure to score runs.
"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," said Inzamam.
Inzamam also said Tendulkar's bowling abilities were another proof of his genius.
"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," he added.
Tendulkar called it a day in 2013 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai after his 200th Test.