I am a fan of Sachin Tendulkar, says Former Bayern, Liverpool star Dietmar Hamman

Former German midfielder Dietmar 'Didi' Hamman, who has also played for Bayern Munich and Liverpool said that Sachin Tendulkar is his "favourite cricketer."

"I don't know whether I should say this or not as I'm being interviewed for a Pakistani cricket website but here goes - my favourite cricketer is Sachin Tendulkar. He's an all time great, a wonderful cricketer," Hamman, who represented Germany in the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups and has had nearly 200 appearances for EPL giants Liverpool told Pakpassion.net.

"In addition, I've always enjoyed watching Ricky Ponting and I particularly enjoy watching all-rounders in action as they have a lot of skill to perform with both bat and ball and are generally the stand out cricketers, especially Jacques Kallis. Among Pakistan players, I like Shahid Afridi," Hamman, who also had more than 100 matches for Bayern Munich said.

Hamman's interest in cricket grew during club career in England and the 2005 Ashes only enhanced it. Such was his interest that he played in an exhibition match in Chesire County League.

"I really find the game fascinating. I think cricket is a fantastic game and you obviously need a lot of skill to play it, but there's also a lot of strategy behind it and it covers everything that should be covered in a great sport in terms of skill levels and strategy,” Hamaan told the website during an interaction.

Hamaan described himself as an arm-chair expert on cricket.

"I really enjoy listening to the experts on television talking about the game as you learn a lot from their comments and analysis."

© PTI