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Ponting rates Tendulkar best batsman

DURBAN, South Africa, March 15 AAP - Overlooking his own players, Ricky Ponting has rated Sachin Tendulkar the best batsmen of his generation as Australia and India head towards the World Cup final at Johannesburg on Sunday

Will Swanton
16-Mar-2003
DURBAN, South Africa, March 15 AAP - Overlooking his own players, Ricky Ponting has rated Sachin Tendulkar the best batsmen of his generation as Australia and India head towards the World Cup final at Johannesburg on Sunday.
The Australian captain is less certain about who's the better allrounder out of Andrew Symonds and Ian Harvey.
Placing Tendulkar higher on the pecking order than the likes of Matthew Hayden and the Waugh twins, Ponting admitted the diminutive 29-year-old from Bombay had the ability to win any match off his own bat, including the decider.
"I've always thought he's the best batsman I've seen or played against," said Ponting.
"Looking at the way he's played of late I think he's getting somewhere back to his best again.
"We're going to have to come up with some plans and bowl very well if we come across him to make sure he doesn't get away.
"As we've seen in the past, he's actually won games against us single-handedly on occasions. We're going to have to come up with some good plans if we play against them."
Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer at the Cup with 586 at an average of 65.11.
His strike rate per 100 balls is 90.43.
Australia's best so far has been opener Adam Gilchrist with 329 runs at 41.12 and 102.81.
Tendulkar's overall one-day record is awesome: 312 matches for 12,132 runs at 44.43, with 34 centuries and 61 half-centuries.
India has not been a one-man side, though, while suffering only one loss at the Cup - to Australia by nine wickets, back in early February.
Captain Sourav Ganguly has made 330 runs and three seam bowlers have been a revelation.
Left-armer Zaheer Khan and veteran Javagal Srinath have 15 wickets apiece, two more than Ashish Nehra.
India's weakness when the limited overs carnival began was supposed to be its bowling but that hasn't turned out to be the case.
"They do seem to be playing some pretty good cricket," said Ponting.
"Their bowlers are doing a fantastic job for them. Khan and Nehra are the standouts for them at the moment.
"They've been taking early wickets for them and setting games up for them. The little bloke opening the batting is not doing a bad job for them, either.
"We're playing well, they're playing well. We'll see what happens in a few days' time."
Australia has the tougher semifinal on paper against Sri Lanka at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, on Tuesday before India takes on Kenya at Durban's Kingsmead ground on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Australia's selection debate between Symonds and Harvey was no closer to being resolved after the five-wicket win over Kenya.
Symonds made 33 not out, while Harvey put together 28 not out and 0-23 from seven tidy overs of medium pace.
One of them will be dropped when Michael Bevan returns against Sri Lanka.
"We'll have to speak about that pretty intensely over the next couple of days," said Ponting.
"It has and will create a bit of a problem going into that next game.
"Harvey has done nothing wrong with the ball and he batted well in this game.
"Andrew Symonds has done nothing wrong with the bat.
"It's going to be a tough one."
Australia's XI won't be finalised until Tuesday morning.