England bowling coach Allan Donald paid tribute to Sachin Tendulkar after the Indian batsman became only the third player in Test history after Allan Border and Brian Lara to score 11,000 runs.
The Little Master passed the landmark when he reached 25 of his unbeaten 57,†steering India to a lead of 56 with seven first-innings wickets in hand after the second day of the second Test at Trent Bridge.
Donald said: “In my era I think he is the best player I ever played against. He is something special. What he has done not only for the game but also his country has been phenomenal.
“He is a credit to cricket. I know he has been through a bad trot with injuries over the last couple of years but he looked quite his own self apart from being ‘grilled’ (hit on the helmet) by Jimmy Anderson.
“There are not many times you see him getting grilled. He is definitely the best batsman I have ever seen.
“Can he beat Lara’s record? I hope that there is still a lot more cricket in Sachin. He still looks so boyish. It is unbelievable how many years he has stuck it out and achieved what he has achieved.
“It is scary to see how many hundreds he has clocked up in Tests and One-day Internationals. I hope he goes past the record. He deserves that simply because he is such a humble wonderful guy who plays his cricket hard,” he remarked.
As for his charges’ display, Donald added: “I wouldn’t say I am disappointed with the way we bowled. It was a hard day’s toil on a pitch which has got a bit better and the bowlers stuck to their guns.
“Our guys showed a hell of a lot of responsibility. They stuck it out. They were patient for most of the time,” he added.