Papua New Guinea captain Assad Vala has revealed that he has grown up idolising former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar.
“…when I was growing up, as we all know (Sachin) Tendulkar was (the) only cricketer everyone in the world knew. Tendulkar (and) probably Brian Lara as well. I just wanted to watch them bat and I see myself as a batsman,” 34-year-old Vala said in an online interaction facilitated by the ICC.
Vala mentioned about Tendulkar’s knock of 241* against Australia away from home and how the batting legend stitched his innings.
“There was a series in Australia, where he got nicked off four or five-times before he scored the double century. He was mentally tough and the way he planned his double century where he played straight and on-side is something I have never seen done before, just to score all his runs on the leg-side and straight-down,” he said.
The World T20 will begin on October 17 when co-host Oman will be up against PNG in Al Amerat. PNG will then play Scotland on October 19 and Bangladesh on October 21 at the same venue in the group stage.