Sachin Tendulkar and Lionel Messi are arguably the best players to have ever stepped onto the field of cricket and football respectively. With 34357 runs, the Master Blaster is the highest run-scorer in international cricket. Also, the former Indian batsman still remains the only cricketer to have amassed 100 international centuries. On the other hand, the Argentina Maestro, who is regarded as the best striker ever, has won the prestigious Ballon d’Or Award for six times, most for any player. Interestingly, both Tendulkar and Messi donned the jersey no. 10. However, Suresh Raina feels that there are several more similarities between the two ace players. India Won 2011 Cricket World Cup Because of Sachin Tendulkar, He Was Like Second Coach: Suresh Raina.

During a live chat with Khaleej Times on Facebook, the swashbuckling Indian batsman said that both the sporting icons are very humble to the people around them despite achieving such astonishing success. “I am a big fan of Messi. He is so down to earth, Both Sachin and Messi are very good when it comes to taking care of people around them because in sports you need to be really humble,” said Tendulkar’s former teammate.

“You may be the number one player in the world, but your legacy is very important, You need to show gratitude to everyone,” the talismanic southpaw added. Further in the conversation, the 33-year old also revealed how Tendulkar’ took care of the Indian team during ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

In fact, he also went on to say that the Master Blaster acted as a second coach of the team during their title-winning campaign. With Sachin, it’s always about his calmness. It was because of Sachin that we won the World Cup. He was the guy who made everyone in the team believe that we can do that, He was like the second coach in the team,” the CSK star said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 04, 2020 03:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).