*Tendulkar a modern greater

Tendulkar a modern Great

Last week, Mike Atherton wrote a column in The Times reflecting on Sachin Tendulkar's recent exploits against Australia and his comparison to Sir Donald Bradman.

He pointed out that the factor differentiating two greats of different eras was the increasing use of protective gear nowadays, which has made modern batsmen fearless.

He argued that the practice of calling Tendulkar the greatest cricketer of all time was to demean those who had played in another time.

---

Also read:

• Sachin crosses 30,000 international runs
• 'Calling Sachin best demeaning to others'
• Sachin celebrates 20 yrs with family, team
• What next for Sachin? WC win, 100 tons!
• There will never be another Sachin: Murali

---

CricketNext readers reacted to Atherton's analysis, and there were mixed responses:

Giridhar says: "Sachin is certainly one of the best of all time. Even Bradman himself had said that he sees himself in Sachin. Coming from the best batsman, Sachin is truly a genius.

"The bowling attack he faced was the best - Pollock, Donald, Fanie de Villiers, Craig McDermott, Glenn Mcgrath, Shane Warne, Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop, Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain, etc." he adds.

Sivakasibala sums it up by saying, "Atherton is wrong. See the quality of bowling Sachin has faced all around the world."

One of the readers who chooses to call himself Tendlya writes, "I still maintain that Viv Richards is the greatest batsman and Gary Sobers is the greatest cricketer in the period 1960-2000. I think Mike is not totally unfair. But if one takes a complete assessment, that includes non-cricketing private aspects, Sachin is the greatest sportsperson of 50 years from 1960-2010."