Cricket is all about a fair contest between the bat and ball. You don’t need to pick someone’s brain to dish out memorable contests featuring batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and reputed bowlers like Glenn McGrath and Shoaib Akhtar to name a few. Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg was asked to pick one such rivalry by a fan on Twitter.
Sachin Tendulkar won a fair number of battles against Shoaib Akhtar, Glenn McGrath
The slow left-arm chinaman was asked to pick a battle between Tendulkar’s rivalry against Glenn McGrath and Shoaib Akhtar’s barrage of bouncers against the same batter. Hogg justified his pick by saying that the Indian batter’s face-off against Australian great McGrath was more about a waiting game. It was a game of patience where momentum kept shifting at regular intervals. He mentioned that both were in for the long haul and the last laugh.
Sachin v McGrath a war of attrition McGrath trying to win the patience game, your in for the long haul.
Sachin v Akhtar more erratic, with Akhtar trying to blast the him out with sheer pace + it's India v Pak, which adds a little more spice to the contest.
2nd one. #Hoggytime https://t.co/wiLrqpJVpO— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) April 4, 2020
Shoaib Akhtar vs Sachin Tendulkar was more ‘erratic’: Brad Hogg
On the other hand, Tendulkar’s battle against arch-rivals Pakistan pacer Akhtar was more erratic. Akhtar, a premium fast bowler, disturbed the Indian batter’s stumps on quite a few occasions. At the same, Tendulkar had his fair share of wins against the temperamental pacer.
Has a bigger back lift placing the bat behind the non strikers line on the turn for 2 than when he's about to hit the ball, but other than that, perfect. Out of the danger area, straight lines, runs the first one hard. One of the best in the business. #hoggytime ? https://t.co/iQlLnDS9sj
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) April 4, 2020
Hogg tweeted, “Sachin v McGrath a war of attrition McGrath trying to win the patience game, you’re in for the long haul. Sachin v Akhtar more erratic, with Akhtar trying to blast him out with sheer pace + it’s India v Pak, which adds a little more spice to the contest. 2nd one.”
Brad Hogg on MS Dhoni
Hogg, who has earned 145 international caps for Australia, also had a word for MS Dhoni. The former India skipper has not been seen in action since the 2019 World Cup. When a fan asked Hogg to have a word on the charismatic wicketkeeper-batsman, Hogg said: “Has a bigger back lift placing the bat behind the non-strikers line on the turn for 2 than when he’s about to hit the ball, but other than that, perfect. Out of the danger area, straight lines, runs the first one hard. One of the best in the business.”