Sachin Tendulkar greatest ever: Sir Richard Hadlee

Already a fan of Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Richard Hadlee today said the Indian maestro stands apart from most in the business and added that his statistics are the reflection of his stature as a player. ''Greatness of a player depends on how he adapts to situations, conditions and wickets. In the modern day cricket, Sachin's statistics speak volumes".

"I played against Sachin on his tour here in 1990, when he got that 80 or 90-odd at the McLean Park in Napier. We didn't see at that time and you cannot visualise 20 years down the track what the player is likely to do in the context of the history of the game. He has been phenomenal, said the 57-year-old, arguably one of the finest all-rounders of all time.


Asked if it meant Tendulkar was greater than even Don Bradman, Hadlee said, ''With the kind of record that Sir Don Bradman has, he was arguably the best batsman in the game. He played just Test cricket. But to see Sachin and other players actually adjust to different forms of the game and different conditions all around the world, even though the average is fractionally more than half of the Don's, is in itself incredible. You got to respect it and write those performances," he explained

The 57-year-old Hadlee recalled that the first time he saw Tendulkar he was very impressed with the young boy who had just arrived at the international cricket.