Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne described Yusuf Pathan's blistering century against the Mumbai Indians as the best he had ever seen.
Yusuf hammered the fastest century in the Indian Premier League, scoring 100 off just 37 deliveries, but it was not enough as the Royals went down by four runs in a high-scoring game in Mumbai.
Batting first, the Indians posted a formidable 212-6 and the Royals were reeling at 66-4 when Yusuf hauled them back into contention.
However, the Royals eventually fell short with a total of 208-7 from their 20 overs.
Warne said: "I've played this game for 20 odd years, I've seen Sachin [Tendulkar] smash bowlers all around the park plenty of times and I've seen some wonderful players, but this is probably the best innings I've ever seen.
"Pure, clean striking in a game situation, 100 off only 37 balls, I don't think I've seen a better innings in 21 years of cricket. So well done to Yusuf."
Yusuf's innings gave the Royals a fighting chance and Warne was pleased with the effort in a losing cause.
"I'm proud of the way we fought," he said. "They probably got 20 runs too many. I think we bowled two many wides and we dropped a couple of crucial catches.
"But this is the first game, the guys are just trying to find their feet and some of them haven't played any cricket in a long while.
"But we showed character and we showed fight and that holds us in good stead for the rest of the tournament."
Mumbai Indians skipper Tendulkar also praised Yusuf's innings.
"It was a special innings, but I can't say it was a treat to watch because we were at the receiving end," he said.
"When someone bats like this, the only thing you can do is to try and block him somewhere. Overall, this has been a good game for us."