Wahab Riaz delivered spell of the World Cup: Sachin Tendulkar

Indian batting maestro says performances such as his stay with you forever

Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar joins the list of cricket greats who applauded Wahab Riaz’s fiery spell with Australia’s Shane Watson during Pakistan’s quarter-final in the World Cup.

In an interview with the International Cricket Council (ICC Tendulkar termed Wahab’s six-over confrontation the“spell of the World Cup”.

"One spell that stands out the most, according to what I saw, is definitely Wahab Riaz's spell. He didn't pick up many wickets in that spell, but [what] a spell to watch. To me, I think the spell of the tournament. Those kind of performances stay with you forever," he said.

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Tendulkar highlighted a number of other impressive individual performances during the six-week tournament, reserving praise for the likes of Martin Guptill, Chris Gayle, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, AB de Villiers, Mitchell Starc and Kumar Sangakkara.

"We all enjoyed those performances," added the 41-year-old. "Fifteen years down the line you will be talking about these innings and these spells."

Earlier, cricket extraordinaire Brian Lara also praised Riaz's 30-minute spell with Watson. He termed the ICC's fine “uncalled for”, while offering to pay for it himself.

“I don’t know what the ICC is thinking. It’s just uncalled for. We need this in a sport that people are running away from, especially 50-over cricket. I loved the exchange,” the former West Indies batsman said.

Read: I'll pay Wahab Riaz's fine: Brian Lara

Australia clinched a seven-wicket win on Sunday from fellow co-hosts New Zealand at the MCG ground.

During the quarter-final clash, Wahab sent David Warner and Clarke to the pavilion in his opening spell, shrinking the team to a mere 59-3 in their chase of 214 runs.

The left-arm pacer almost took Shane Watson’s wicket but Rahat Ali dropped the ball on the fine-leg as Australia revived to make it to the finals.

Read: Clarke hails whirlwind Wahab

The story was originally published in Sportal.