Australian fast-bowling great Dennis Lillee has described Sachin Tendulkar as the greatest batsman to have ever played cricket. He said in Chennai today that he admired the iconic Indian's hunger for the game despite achieving unparallelled success.The 62-year-old Lillee bids adieu to the MRF Pace Foundation after 25 years of service. Lillee felt a bit embarrassed now in the thought that he had rejected Tendukar's ambition to become a fast bowler in the late 1980s but said he did the game of cricket a "big favour" by doing so. Lillee, then the MRF Pace Foundation's coaching director,advised a young Tendulkar to focus on his batting instead ofbowling.