Mumbai: West Indies skipper Darren Sammy on Saturday said while cricket will immensely miss Sachin Tendulkar, it is good news for the opponents who will not have to live with the fear of taking on the modern day’s greatest batsman on a cricket field anymore.
“What he brought to the cricket fraternity is incredibly the best. Legends come and legends go, but cricket will surely miss Sachin…not only in India. I don’t know how the dressing room of India would be when it is next Test match and Sachin is not in the XI.
“Opponents would be happy that they are not competing against Sachin. Cricket would surely miss the ambassador,” said Sammy at the end of the two-Test series, that India won 2-0.
Tendulkar retired from international cricket on Saturday after playing his 200th Test match and Sammy said there would be more than one thing that the cricketing fraternity would miss about the iconic batsman.
“You can’t just miss one thing. Tendulkar is the all-round person. All-round cricketer, ultimate sportsman. What he has done for the sport over the last 24 years, you know as an opponent, when you hear of Sachin your shoulders tend to drop. As a teammate probably you would be so happy to be in the same team as him. World cricket, no matter which team you support, whenever Sachin is playing you have got to watch,” he said.
Sammy, who took Tendulkar’s catch at first slip to dismiss him for one last time in international cricket, said West Indies players have the utmost respect for him.
“When he came onto bat, we gave him the guard of honour. I think I took a brilliant catch to dismiss him but there was no emotion shown. That is the level of respect I have for the man. I gave no emotion because probably that was the last time the world saw him bat. We have utmost respect for Sachin. We respect what he has done for the game,” said Sammy, who was five years old when Tendulkar started playing. (PTI)