Sachin Tendulkar's epic 136 in Chennai '99 Test in a high-pressure chase that saw him unfortunately run out of partners, former Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq rates it higher than the unforgettably brutal 309 which Virender Sehwag made in Multan in 2004.
Having been at the receiving end of both the knocks and despite the contrasting results in the two encounters for his team, Saqlain believes Tendulkar's knock was greater as it came in tougher conditions and under huge weight of expectations on the 'Master Blaster'.
"I rate the 130 odd runs that Sachin Tendulkar scored in the 2nd innings in the Chennai Test match ahead of the triple century scored by Virender Sehwag. Because we had gone with full preparation at that time. It was a fight, there was a battle," Saqlain said on the 'Cricket Baaz' talk show on YouTube.
"Here (Multan 2004), there was no fight or battle. And it was the 1st innings of the Test match, not the 2nd innings. It was the 1st innings, first-day pitch, no preparation. Some good deeds of his parents or his own good deeds worked for him."
Sehwag's great knock helped India pull off an innings victory, India's first in Pakistan, carrying momentum from which, the side created history by becoming the first from across the border to win a Test series there. Saqlain, however, doesn't rate that effort as highly.
"I feel it was a tailor-made situation for him. Nature was kind on him. I am not saying that he is not a good player, he is a great player, he is a very good player. Not because I was injured and Shoaib Akhtar was also injured, wicket was flat, conditions were tough for the bowlers, the whole bowling unit had collapsed. There were issues in the Board, Inzamam was accidentally made the captain, someone else was the captain," said Saqlain, stressing connotation of luck by a series of events in Sehwag's exploits.
"Lot of things were changing, the mind was not set, focus was not there, the preparations were not good. When you have the Ashes, they prepare for that for one year. We were having a series against India and we had no planning, no preparation."
"Sehwag is a very destructive attacking player but I won’t rate that triple hundred. I will say that nature has given that to him on a platter. He has played lot of good knocks. You enjoy when you have prepared well and the bowling unit is working fine and conditions are tough for the batsmen," he concluded.
