Former Australian great Glenn Mcgrath was recently asked about who he would like rate amongst the top three in the current generation of pace bowlers.
At first, the New South Welshman had no hesitation in picking the Australian pace triplet of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who have dominated in ODIs and Tests in recent years.
But, on a serious note, the highest wicket-taker amongst pace bowler in international cricket (949 wickets), picked the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada as the top three bowlers currently.
“All Aussies. Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood, and Mitchell Starc. (Laughter). But seriously, Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah and Kagiso Rabada. I like Neil Wagner too,” McGrath told TOI.
Further, Mcgrath was asked to choose between two of the greatest batsmen of his era, i.e., Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara.
“That was Brian. He never changed his game. I may have got him out 15 times, but he also scored big hundreds and double hundreds against us when both me and Warnie were playing together for Australia,” McGrath opined.
Even though Tendulkar has more international runs and tons when compared to Lara, McGrath opted to go for the Trinidadian superstar due to his fearlessness.
Lara’s match-winning knock of 153* against Australia, chasing a target of 308 during the fourth innings in Barbados in 1999, is still termed as one of the best knocks in Test cricket history.
“When it was his day, he could do absolutely anything. Sachin was equally as good, but there was something about Brian where he could just keep going and he was slightly harder to bowl to than Sachin. He was more fearless,” concluded Glenn Mcgrath.
