Footballers and their cricketing equivalents: Part II

Football and Cricket – they are like two sides of a coin, right?Not really. Two different sports. Two different set of fans. Football, on the one end, is a fast paced game where a match could be won or lost in a matter of seconds. Cricket, however, is more of a long-running battle which will test your patience – not just as a player, but a viewer.Sport has had its share of characters. Some don’t talk a great deal but let their skills do the talking in the pitch. Some don’t fulfil the enormous talent they possess and instead gain recognition for their exploits away from the pitch while some just remain legends forever for their achievements on the field. Regardless of their differences, cricket and football are two of the most followed sports in the world, and their star athletes are some of the most talked about personalities. And, some of those athletes are surprisingly not very different.Continuing from our previous installment, we talk about six more footballers and their cricketing equivalents:

#1 Sachin Tendulkar and Ryan Giggs

There’s no doubt that Sachin Tendulkar will go down in the history books as the greatest cricketer to have ever played the game. The Mumbaikar notched up 15921 runs in 200 Tests and 18426 runs in 463 ODIs in a staggering International career that lasted for 24 years.

While it would extremely difficult to find his equivalent in cricket, former Manchester United midfielder and current assistant coach at Old Trafford, Ryan Giggs could come as a close equal to the ‘Little Master” from football.

In a decorated career, the Welshman played 672 Premier League games for United between 1990 and 2014, scoring 114 goals and more importantly, winning numerous titles, including 13 Premier League wins, 4 FA Cups triumphs and 2 Champions League wins.