Who's the greatest Indian batter across generations among Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virat Kohli? There is no clear answer as cricket pundits have different opinions. Gavaskar played the toughest bowlers, Tendulkar achieved mind-boggling numbers, and Virat Kohli redefined excellence for the modern era with his match-winning consistency and dominance across formats.

The latest to join the bandwagon is former England player Allan Lamb, for whom none comes close to the greatest Indian batter than Tendulkar. Speaking to PTI, Lamb, who played three World Cups and 79 Tests, hailed Tendulkar as the greatest ever Indian batter, and made a sarcastic claim about him, saying that he made Tendulkar's name. Lamb recalled his encounter with 18-year-old Tendulkar during the Manchester Test in 1990, where he dropped Tendulkar at slips and he went on to score his maiden Test hundred, helping India draw the Test.

"Sachin easily. I played against him when he was 18. I dropped him at slip and he went to get 100 (in a Test match). So I always say to him, it was me that made your name," he laughed.

"Kohli is a brilliant player, he's got all the shots, he can score quickly. But if you want the best player I played against, that Indian player is Sachin, even ahead of Sunny. The only thing I would have liked to see Sachin play the West Indies, where Sunny scored runs against the West Indies. He was probably the only Indian to score runs against those quicks."

Sachin, however, is not Lamb's favourite Indian cricketer, but Kapil Dev, with whom he shared the dressing room for Northamptonshire.

"I love the way Kapil Dev played. We played together at Northampton. I remember him coming over, and I saying, 'Kapi, I'm so pleased that you've come over. We need to strengthen our bowling'. He said, 'no, I haven't come to strengthen my bowling. I've come to better my batting. I've come here as a batsman, which I always enjoyed."