‘It would be fun to go out and face him’ - Sachin Tendulkar reveals one bowler from the current generation he would want to take on

Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar was engaged in numerous tense battles with famous bowlers of his era like Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath and Saqlain Mushtaq. However, if he were to face any top-class bowler from the current generation, who would it be?

The Master Blaster himself answered the question during a recent Q&A session on his YouTube channel. Revealing his choice, Sachin Tendulkar said:

“If I have to face one bowler from this generation, it would be Rashid [Khan]. Almost everyone has talked so much about his bowling and I’ve also enjoyed it . So it will be interesting to face him… because the way he disguises – the googly, leg spin and top spin – he has quite a few variations. It would be fun to actually go out and face him.”

Coming from a legend like Sachin Tendulkar, it is a massive compliment for 22-year-old Rashid Khan, who has been making waves on the international as well as T20 circuit.

Having made his debut for Afghanistan in 2015, Rashid has so far featured in four Tests, 71 ODIs and 48 T20Is, claiming 23, 133 and 89 wickets respectively. While the leggie averages 21.08 in Tests, that number falls to 18.54 in ODIs and 12.62 in T20Is.

Rashid has also been among the top picks in T20 leagues around the world, including the IPL and the BBL.

How ‘Summer of 69’ helped Sachin Tendulkar overcome poor form

In the YouTube interaction, Sachin Tendulkar also revealed that he listened to Bryan Adams’ legendary song ‘Summer of 69’ on loop during the Sydney Test of 2004, in which he scored an unbeaten 241. The batting maestro was in poor form going into the Sydney Test, with scores of 0, 1, 37, 0 and 44 in the preceding matches.

“The song that I heard, I remember in 2004 in Sydney when I scored 241 not out, those five days I only heard one song – Bryan Adams’ Summer of 69. I put that song on loop. Whether we were travelling to the ground, in the dressing room, before I was walking out to bat, lunch time, tea time, after the match, going back to the hotel… five days it was only Summer of 69 and nothing else,” he added.

Sachin Tendulkar retired from international cricket in November 2013 with 15921 runs from 200 Tests and 18426 runs from 463 ODIs.