Sachin Tendulkar’s first ton in England came back in 1990 at Old Trafford. Former England cricketer Allan Lamb shared a hilarious anecdote on how he dropped the catch of the Indian batter, which led to him scoring his first-ever ton in the longest format of the game. “Sachin easily. I played against him when he was 18. I dropped him at slip and he went to get 100 (in a Test match). So I always say to him, it was me that made your name (laughs),” Lamb told as quoted by PTI.
Lamb also credited Kohli for his skill to score his runs at a brisk pace, but he also gave the opinion that he would have wanted to see Tendulkar face the peak West Indian bowling attack. “Kohli is a brilliant player, he’s got all the shots, he can score quickly. But if you want the best player I played against, that Indian player is Sachin, even ahead of Sunny. The only thing I would have liked to see Sachin play the West Indies, where Sunny scored runs against the West Indies. He was probably the only Indian to score runs against those quicks,” Lamb said.
Speaking on Shubman Gill’s captaincy, he did say India is going to miss Virat Kohli in the team. “In one-day cricket, India should win every competition. In Test matches, you’re going to rely a lot on Bumrah, and you’re going to miss Virat Kohli big time,” Lamb said.
Even before the series started between India and England, the former’s ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah has said he will only be available for three Tests in the series, citing his injury concerns. However, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra was critical of the team management’s strategy regarding the decision to make Bumrah’s availability public.
“Bumrah said he will play three matches only, and I am thinking whether it was required to publicize it. Why was it not kept a secret? We don’t announce our team as well. So why was it necessary to reiterate it repeatedly before the start of the tour that he would play three matches only? Let them guess. You play whichever Tests you wish,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel.
