Showering praise on Sachin Tendulkar, former South African pacer and England bowling coach Allan Donald said the Mumbaiikar is the best batsman of present era and deserves to become the highest run-getter in Test cricket.
Donald said the veteran Indian willower, who became the third player to accumulate 11,000 Test runs during the second day's play of the second cricket Test against England, was the best in the business and could carry on for a few more years.
"In my era, I think he is the best player I have ever had the pleasure of playing against. He is something special, very freakish, and I think that what he has done for the game and his country has been absolutely phenomenal," Donald said while paying tribute to Tendulkar.
Donald said Tendulkar can carry on playing for a few more years and can go past Brian Lara's record of scoring most number of Test runs (11,953).
"There is a lot more cricket in Tendulkar. He still looks so boyish. It's is a bit scary to notice how many hundreds he has notched up in Test cricket and not to mention those one-day hundreds.
"He's just a credit to cricket. I know he has been through a bad trot with injuries over the last couple of years but he looked his old self out there. I hope there is still a lot more cricket in Sachin because it's unbelievable how many years he's stuck it out and achieved what he has. I hope he goes past Brian Lara's record - he deserves it," Donald said.
With England on the ropes in the second Test, Donald felt that his bowlers had given everything on a wicket that just got a bit better on the second afternoon.
"It was a good day's Test cricket, a classic hard day's toil on a pitch that has got a bit better. With a bit of luck it could have gone the other way - the ball did fly past the edge and a few balls were nicked through but credit to India, they fought hard."
Donald also defended the verbal volleys his bowlers resorted to as Dinesh Kaarthick and Wasim Jaffer stitched together a splendid opening stand of 147 runs.
"There comes a time when a partnership needs to be broken and you need to fire someone up," explained Donald.
"It was right to bowl two lengths, mix it up a bit and change the field. Jimmy (Anderson) stuck up his hand and anything could have happened in that spell. When a partnership gets over 100 you need to be aggressive and he did it well," he said.
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