‘Sachin is Greatest Batter, But GOAT Is...’: Brett Lee rates Rohit, Ponting's pull shots as best
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Sachin is Greatest Batter, But GOAT Is...’: Brett Lee rates Rohit, Ponting's pull shots as best")
‘Sachin is Greatest Batter, But GOAT Is...’ Brett Lee rates Rohit's pull shots Photograph: (AFP)
Brett Lee names Sachin Tendulkar the greatest batter and Jacques Kallis the ultimate GOAT, while hailing Rohit Sharma and Ricky Ponting for their pull shots.
Former Australian quick Brett Lee thinks of Sachin Tendulkar as the greatest batter of all time, but he picked South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis as the greatest cricketer. Lee made his international debut in 1999, at a time when Sachin was at the peak of his prowess, and Kallis had already emerged as a top all-rounder. The fast bowler, who won the 2003 ODI World Cup, also picked Rohit Sharma and Ricky Ponting as the best players of pull shots in cricket.
"I've always said that I think that the best batsman to ever play the game is Sachin Tendulkar. But the best cricketer is Jacques Kallis. He's got the best numbers in the world. If you look at his stats, the stats don't lie. He's incredible,” Lee said while answering rapid-fire questions on the BeerBiceps podcast.
"But to be alongside as a teammate and to watch him prepare for a game, his heart rate was about 30 beats a minute before going out to bat, as he was chilled out. So relaxed," Lee said of Kallis.
"The way I'd watch him get changed, he'd put his gear on, his batting gear, and he'd put his left sock on first; his other sock would go in his mouth. Same thing every single day," Lee recalled of Kallis’ routine.
Sachin and Kallis, however, are true legends of the game. Keeping aside the longevity of these two stalwarts, what they achieved purely as cricketers is remarkable. While Sachin Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer in international cricket, scoring over 34,000 runs across three formats, and has 100 international hundreds to that, Kallis is the modern-day game’s greatest all-rounder.
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The South African has scored over 25,000 international runs and picked 577 wickets across three formats, placing him in the all-time great category. It was during 2013 and 2014 that Sachin and Kallis announced their international retirements, respectively.
Cricket's Best Pullers: Rohit and Ponting
Having played under and alongside Ricky Ponting for years, Lee knew how good his skipper was. Not only was Ponting a great captain, having won two World Cups as an Australian skipper, adding two Champions Trophy titles, but he was also perhaps the best player of pull shots. However, Rohit Sharma, the veteran batter, is another name Lee thinks of as a great puller of a cricket ball.
"Rohit Sharma is one of my favourite players to watch, especially the pull shot," Lee said while naming him and Ponting in the same breath. "Ricky Ponting & Rohit Sharma have got the best pull shots in world cricket."
