Not Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag Picks Inzamam Ul Haq As Best Middle-Order Batter
New Delhi: Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag has always been high in praise of legendary Sachin Tendulkar. The Master Blaster, one of the greatest batters the world has seen to date, is a proud owner of numerous cricket records, including 100 international centuries, which are hard to break anytime soon. Sehwag never misses an opportunity to praise Tendulkar and often terms him the ‘God Of Cricket.’
However, in one of the rarest occasions, Sehwag sidelined Tendulkar and picked former Pakistan captain Inzamam ul Haq as Asia’s best middle-order batter. Sehwag added that Tendulkar was above the league of batters so he doesn’t count.
“Everyone talks about Sachin Tendulkar but Inzamam-Ul-Haq is Asia’s biggest middle-order batsman. See Tendulkar was above the league of batsmen. So he doesn’t count. But when it comes to the most superior-middle order batsman across India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, I have never seen anyone better than him (Inzi),” Sehwag told renowned anchor and host Gaurav Kapur on his famous show ‘Breakfast with Champions’ produced by Oaktree Sports.
The first half of the 2000s saw many great batters rule cricket, including the likes of VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, however, Sehwag feels that none even come close to Inzamam. Sehwag said that Inzamam was way more confident than any other batter in the league. Not only as a batter, Inzamam was also a potent skipper and made Pakistan a formidable unit. Inzi’s win percentage as Pakistan captain is 58, on par with Wasim Akram.
“In that era – 2003-04 – he used to talk about scoring 8 an over. He would tell his partner, ‘Don’t worry. You’ll score easily. Means 80 runs in 10 overs. Other teams would panic but he was always too confident,” he added.