London, Oct 18 : Former English batsman Allan Lamb has said that though Indian master blaster Sachin was a brilliant cricketer, but Australian captain Ricky Ponting was closely chasing his world record of maximum Test runs.

He said that Ponting could beat Sachin record, set yesterday after surpassing Brian Lara's 11,953 runs, because the Indian might not be able to play for too long.

"Tendulkar's probably not the player he was two or three years ago, so he will probably hang up his boots in a year or so. But, then you've got Ricky Ponting steaming up from the back, so I don't know how long the Indians will hold the record," The Sun quoted Lamb as saying while hailing Sachin's feat.

Lamb said: "He's very classical. He's a batter who keeps very still at the wicket and that's something that every youngster is told to do. He's got all the shots in the book. He can play all round the wicket and he's got a lot of time to play his shots, which is what makes him such a great player."

ANI