“The toughest bowler I have faced”: When Sachin Tendulkar picked Hansie Cronje as the bowler he most hated facing in international cricket

Sachin Tendulkar is considered the greatest batter to ever play the game of cricket. He is the highest run-scorer in the Test and ODI formats of the game, and most of his records are almost impossible to break. Tendulkar faced a lot of world-class bowlers in his career and dominated most of them.

Tendulkar played some memorable knocks in his career, and Sharjah’s ‘Desert Storm’ was one of them. Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff also called Tendulkar one of the greatest to play the game. He made his debut at an age of just 16 and ruled the world.

Tendulkar played his last game in 2013, and he also revealed why he got emotional during that match. He was quite disciplined on the field. Tendulkar was once banned for his action, and it created a lot of controversies.

When Sachin Tendulkar picked Hansie Cronje as the bowler he most hated

Sachin Tendulkar once revealed Hansie Cronje as the toughest bowler he ever faced in his career, it was such an interesting pick as Tendulkar faced some of the most lethal bowlers in his career including players like Shane Warne, Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, etc.

Tendulkar said that whenever Cronje came to bowl to him, he used to get nervous. He jokingly said that he would have faced Allan Donald instead of him. Cronje had a decent record as well over Tendulkar.

“Hansie Cronje was the toughest bowler I have faced. He was tricky to play. Even when lam set, when see Hansie coming in to bowl used to tell me, anybody but him. And he has got me out a few times too. There have been times when Hansie would come on to bowl and would ask, ‘why don’t you give me Allan Donald?,” Sachin Tendulkar had said at the Hindustan Times leadership summit.

Cronje took Tendulkar’s wicket three times in 32 ODIs and five times in 11 Tests. However, Cronje’s career was finished in 2000 as he was banned for a lifetime after he admitted to match-fixing. He passed away in 202 in a plane crash at an age of 32.