New Delhi, India

Former Australia pacer Brett Lee has heaped praise on Virender Sehwag calling him one of the toughest batters he has bowled to. Lee recently recalled his fierce battles with Sehwag and said the former Indian opener was just too good with the bat. Sehwag was known for his swashbuckling style of batting during his playing days and used to go after the bowlers irrespective of the format.

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Sehwag enjoyed some fierce duels with Lee, one of the fastest bowlers of all time. The former Australian pacer used to bowl at over 150 kmph consistently and was a nightmare to face for even the best of batters. Lee is arguably one of the best fast bowlers the game has ever seen and he enjoyed great duels with Indian batters.

The former Australian pacer has always maintained he found the legendary Sachin Tendulkar the toughest to bowl to but he also holds his opening partner Sehwag in the same regard. Lee, who enjoyed some great battles with Sehwag, recalled how the former India opener was a character who just loved playing cricket and had the ability to get people hooked to their seats with his attacking strokeplay.

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"The guy that looked a little bit like Sachin Tendulkar when he was batting. And I thought 'here we go again. Another Sachin Tendulkar. If one wasn't enough, we've got another one and he is opening the batting'. We in the Australian team had a ploy for Sehwag and even start the Test match with a third man, trying to suck him in to hit one down there. We tried that in an ODI match one day and he whacked it... he absolutely nailed it out of the ground. I just thought ‘this guy is too good," Lee said in a video on his YouTube channel.

"And he would give you that cheeky little wink. The best thing about Sehwag was that he was a character. He loved playing cricket and those little battle scars against the bowler. He got the ability to make people get hooked on to seats," he added.

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Lee explained how Sehwag's unpredictable approach with the bat made him one of the toughest batters to bowl to. The two-time World Cup winner with Australia hailed Sehwag's intent and showered praise on the former India opener for his sensational batting skills.

"You think of the word cruel. You think of the word swashbuckling. Think of the world unpredictable, I think of none other than Virender Sehwag. He played with a smile on his face, with intent... the type of guy that would quite likely want to hit the first ball of a Test match for six... and he has done it," said Lee as he spoke highly about Sehwag.

"He is a guy that is so hard to bowl to because, as I mentioned, the unpredictability. You would bowl that beautiful line and length, thinking, I’ve got him… ball shaping away. And that big smile, Sehwag would go bang, hit you over cover for six," he added.

Sachin and Sehwag once formed the backbone of India's batting and the duo used to dominate the best bowling attacks in the world during their playing days. While Sachin remains the leading run-getter of all time in international cricket, Sehwag finished his career with 8586 runs in 104 Tests and 8273 runs in 251 ODIs.