Sachin heaps praise on Anderson’s 700 wickets, calls it “stellar achievement”

NEW DELHI: Legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar expressed delight after James Anderson became the first pace bowler to pick up 700 wickets in the longest form of cricket calling it a “stellar achievement”.

James Anderson on Saturday became the first-ever pace bowler to pick up 700 Test wickets during the third day of the fifth match against India at HPCA. The legendary fast bowler became only the third man after Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and leg-spinner Shane Warne (708) to achieve the feat in the cricket's longest format.

Anderson dismissed Kuldeep Yadav on Day 3 of the fifth Test against India on Saturday to reach the milestone. An off-cutter from around the wicket lured Kuldeep into the drive. The ball took the outside edge and Ben Foakes did the rest behind the stumps.

Sachin lauding praise of words for Anderson called it simply magnificent. Anderson’s accomplishment of 700 wickets sounded like fiction for Sachin until Anderson made it happen.

“The first time I saw Anderson play was in Australia in 2002, and his control over the ball looked special,” Sachin wrote on X.

“Nasser Hussain spoke very highly of him back then and today, I am sure, he would say, “Maine bola tha” — that he had called it so early. 700 test wickets is a stellar achievement. A fast bowler playing for 22 years and performing so consistently to be able to take 700 wickets would have sounded like fiction until Anderson actually made it happen. Simply magnificent!” he added.

As Warne and Muralitharan were both under 40 when they became members of the enigmatic 700-wicket club, the 41-year-old Anderson is the oldest bowler to reach the milestone.