Australian cricket legend Brett Lee truly epitomises pace bowling, having outdone the greatest of batting attacks in the world in international cricket. Having come across several great batsmen of his generation, Lee picked the Sachin Tendulkar as the best player with the willow he ever saw, though when it came to picking the ‘greatest complete cricketer’, the former speedster snubbed the Master Blaster.
Lee has come across several great batsmen of his generation but there were only a handful of batsmen who managed to dominate him. In an interaction with former Zimbabwe cricketer Pommie Mbangwa for Cricbuzz, Lee termed Sachin the ‘best batsman’ he came across.
“I would think of Sachin Tendulkar. Why Sachin? He had that extra time. You know you play against great players and feel that Sachin had the extra time. But, you know he was actually batting on the popping crease. But it felt time like he had that extra time. In my opinion, Sachin was the best batsman in the world,” he said.
As far as the subject of greatest complete cricketer goes, Lee picked former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis. He also mentioned the name of Sir Gary Sobers in the same wavelength but went with Kallis as he had never seen Sobers in action live.
“I have always said that Sachin was the best batsman ever, but in my opinion the best cricketer that game has seen, and I would add that I haven’t seen Gary Sobers play, I have watched highlights and all, but from the players I have watched and played against, it has to be Jacques Kallis. He was the greatest complete cricketer. He could open the bowling or play just as a batsman. He also caught those many catches at slips,” Lee said.
