One thing I never understood is a few posts here and a lot in PakPassion that Sachin never played against Wasim and Waqar in their prime. That works both ways isn't it ? They did not play against him for lot of his prime either. Both got opportunity to bully Sachin to submission in 1989 series when he was only 16, and yet neither did.
The only bowler who I thought had a wood on Tendulkar was Allan Donald. This is by watching 1992-93 series and two series in 1996-97. Tendulkar got a couple of hundreds against Donald but was otherwise a bit below par. Saqlain did well against him 1999 series, but it was one series, so I am not so sure.
Well, in addition to limited appearances against Wasim+Waqar, the same applies to Tendulkar's performance against Ambrose & Walsh also. Tendulkar played them together in only 1 series, with weather and surfaces being such that
4 of the 5 Tests end up as draws. Pretty lifeless surfaces, and one of the dullest series, despite the presence of Lara & Tendulkar. I remember the series well for how dull it was. Sidhu scored a double hundred that was agonizing to watch. Laxman scored two 50s as an opener (his first fifties as opener). I don't recall another Test series in last 3 decades with 4 draws.
Same thing also applies to Tendulkar's away against McGrath. Just one series - with 3 Tests (in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney).
This reinforces the point that Tendulkar didn't face great attacks as often as many of his contemporaries did. And on the few occasions he did, while he was good, he couldn't produce the kind of series that he had against Kasper+Fleming in 1998 (which is what I define as a spectacular series performance)
He did have a spectacular series against Steyn in 2010. No question about that. It is not the point that he never had great series against great attacks, it is just that they were relatively far and few in between, compared to few other batsmen in this list of 10ers.