Mumbai: Sunil Gavaskar on Tuesday said Sachin Tendulkar would have been successful in any era because of his sound technique and temperament and cited Donald Bradman’s words to back his claim.

“As Bradman said a great in one era would have been a great in any era. If you look at the technique that he has got, if you look at the temperament that he has, I think he would have been successful in any era,” Gavaskar said at the India Today Group’s Salaam Sachin function here.

Gavaskar, however, refused to compare Bradman with Tendulkar.

“You cannot compare two players of different eras. At best you can compare players of the same team. I don’t think it is correct to compare players of two eras. It’s good for an after-dinner debate.”

Gavaskar said the trio of Bradman, Garfield Sobers and Sachin are to cricket what Michael Jordan is to basketball, Muhammad Ali to boxing and Pele to football.

“There were few men who have embellished sports and made that sport beyond the sport itself. And I think in that context you would relate football with Pele, basketball with Jordan, boxing with Ali and in cricket I would imagine there would be three. One would be Bradman, Sobers and Sachin. They absolutely took the game to a different level,” Gavaskar said.

Gavaskar said he realised Sachin’s potential when he watched him bat during his maiden first-class game.

“First time I watched him in a match was his debut first-class game against Rest of India and the following Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai at the Wankhede. He certainly showed the potential to go on and make life miserable for the bowlers of the world,” he said.

Asked to list down Sachin’s best knocks, Gavaskar recollects: “The first century which helped India save the Test match. The century he (Tendulkar) got in Perth, it was a memorable one because it wasn't an easy pitch to bat on but he made it look so simple. Then the 100 he got in Chennai against Australia.”

Asked whether Sachin is a mixture of Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath with flair of Viv Richards, Gavaskar said: “Sachin is Sachin. To say he is a mixture of some players is not fair to Sachin.”

Brian Lara termed Sachin’s batting technique as the best in the world. “If I had a son who wanted to play cricket I wouldn have told him not to watch my videos, but instead to look for Sachin’s videos as he has the perfect technique against any kind of bowling. It is the best I have ever seen. Perfect for a youngster to learn from,” Lara said.

While praising Sachin’s longevity, Lara said it would have been hard for the champion batsman to fulfil the huge expectations of his fans during his two-and-a-half decade career.

“I salute Sachin’s amazing longevity. He started couple of years ahead of me and ended six after I retired. These 24 years are testimony to his skills, dedication and fitness level. His zeal while playing for India was simply amazing. I know he has had a tough time playing for 1.3 billion people,” Lara said.

Lara felt that Sachin deserved every bit of adulation before his final hurrah at his home ground at the Wankhede.

Bishan Singh Bedi termed Sachin as “a messenger of God”. “Sachin is the messenger of God, who was sent to show how to play the game,” Bedi said.

Suresh Raina revealed that the intensity and fierce competitiveness reaches 200 per cent when Sachin is competing against Pakistan.

“His intensity reaches 200 per cent against Pakistan. I remember when we were playing our World Cup semi-final against Pakistan in Mohali, we all were tense. It was a high-voltage match for us with Prime Ministers of both sides present. The body language of players on both the sides was aggressive.

“After the toss, paaji (Sachin) had told every player to remain focussed on the job. He said ‘the wicket is good and our record against Pakistan in World Cup is perfect’. He had a meeting with the batsmen and fielders as our fielding unit was very strong. Paaji told us ‘let’s trouble them, they don’t perform when under pressure’. This showed his intensity,” Raina said.

“One thing which I liked about Sachin, he was so tightfisted with his compliments. He would never compliment you easily. It’s quite tough to get a compliment from him. If at all you want to know what he has said about you, it could be from others,” said Javagal Srinath.

Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar also spoke at the function.

While Waqar said the Sachin was “right at the top”, Shoaib termed him as the “greatest player”.

“From being a boy (when he made his debut in 1989 against Pakistan), he went on to rule the world of cricket. His statistics tell us what he has done,” said Waqar.