Sachin Tendulkar: the greatest of them all
Columnist By Kersi Meher-Homji, 16 Nov 2009 Kersi Meher-Homji is a Roar Expert
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India's Sachin Tendulkar celebrates hitting a century on day three of the second test against Australia in Sydney, Australia, Friday, Jan. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Sunday marked the 20th anniversary for Sachin Tendulkar’s glittering Test career. As a 16 year-old tousle-haired rookie, he took on the might of Pakistani quickies Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in the Karachi Test which commenced on 15 November 1989.
He did not set the field on fire as he scored only 15 runs but managed two fifties in other Tests in the series.
The last twenty years have seen the blossoming of many star batsmen; Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Javed Miandad, Mark and Steve Waugh and Matthew Hayden being among the brightest in the galaxy. They have impressed in Tests and one-day internationals.
They are rated highly by critics based on their style and flair, prolific run-making and match-winning ability.
But as this is Sachin’s 20th anniversary, let us focus on him and compare him statistically with Lara and Ponting at Test level and with Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya and Ponting in One-day internationals (ODIs). By runs scored, these four have been the most prolific batsmen in the history of the game.
As Lara has retired from both forms of cricket and Jayasuriya from Tests, it will be particularly interesting to compare the two modern masters, Sachin and Ricky.
Although Ricky, 34, is only 20 months younger than Sachin, he made his Test debut six years after the Indian prodigy.
Statistics do not tell the whole story (at times they mislead) but when one has played for over a decade they give a fair indication.
Below are the Test statistics of the Top 3 Test batsmen:
Tendulkar has scored 12,773 runs at 54.58 in 159 Tests with 42 centuries (highest score 248 not out) and 53 fifties.
Lara blasted 11,953 runs at 52.88 in 131 Tests with 34 centuries (HS 400 n.o.) and 48 fifties.
Ponting has stroked 11,345 runs at 55.88 in 136 Tests with 38 centuries (HS 257) and 48 fifties.
Tendulkar has accumulated the most runs and hit the most centuries in the Test arena. Only Allan Border (63) and Rahul Dravid (57) have hit more fifties than Sachin (53). Lara’s unbeaten 400 remains a Test record.
In ODIs, Tendulkar again leads with 17,178 runs at 44.50 in 436 matches with 45 centuries (HS 186 n.o.) and 91 fifties. He is followed by Jayasuriya, 13,377 runs at 32.54 in 441 matches with 28 centuries (HS 189) and 68 fifties, and Ponting 12,311 runs at 43.19 in 330 ODIs with 28 tons (HS 164) and 73 fifties.
Imagine Tendulkar out-scoring no.2 Jayasuriya by 3,801 runs in five fewer matches. This speaks volumes for his greatness. He has also recorded most centuries (45) and most fifties (91) in ODIs.
Amazing.
Combining statistics at Test and ODI levels, Tendulkar tops with 29,951 runs with 87 centuries in 595 internationals. Then come Ponting 23,656 runs with 66 centuries in 466 matches and Lara 22,358 runs with 53 centuries in 430.
Thus the Indian Little Master is a whopping 6,295 runs and 21 centuries ahead of the next most prolific batsman, Ricky. Sachin needs only 49 runs to touch 30,000 international runs.
Sachin has scored nine ODI centuries against Australia, which is the highest for any player against one country. He occupies second place too, for his eight hundreds against Sri Lanka.
Jayasuriya, with seven hundreds against India and Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar, with seven against Sri Lanka, follow the soft-spoken Indian superstar.
I add in conclusion that against over 130 Tests played by the current greats, Don Bradman played only 52 Tests, Wally Hammond 85, Neil Harvey and Len Hutton 79 each, Everton Weekes 48 and Graeme Pollock 23.
The imagination boggles as to how many runs some of these legends would have amassed on covered pitches with shortened boundary lines, wearing helmets and using new style bats had they played 130 Tests each.
But back then they did not play international cricket day in and night out as they do now.
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November 16th 2009 @ 10:43pm
desmond said | November 16th 2009 @ 10:43pm | Report comment
lara is lara…………..satts are useless…………n lara hs played moe thn i25 odi’s less then sachin so lets bt compare it…….n to b honest u cnt compare sachin to LARA cuz lara singlehandedly blow the blowers apart no matter who……hw mny tymz hs sachin done tat…..??? n lara culd easaily still b the champ….but he knew it ws better to be retired as a champion…..THE CHAMP IS LARA……………….
November 17th 2009 @ 6:02am
sheek said | November 17th 2009 @ 6:02am | Report comment
Desmond,
Not Desmond Dekker? Leave the text vocabulary for the mobile, not a blog site!
And go easy on the beetlejuice…..
November 17th 2009 @ 6:11am
vinay verma said | November 17th 2009 @ 6:11am | Report comment
Sheek,let Desmond have his say…Lara was indeed a champion…I described him recently as ..HE OF THE OUTRAGEOUS BACKLIFT AND INSOUCIANT PLACEMENT.
Keep well,young man.
November 17th 2009 @ 7:06am
sheek said | November 17th 2009 @ 7:06am | Report comment
Vinay,
Of course he is entitled to his say. Perhaps I felt the way Desmond was going on about Lara was showing a lack of respect to the other great players of the era.
I think Lara was exceptional, but so are Tendulkar & Ponting. I would be happy to have all 3 in my best team of the past 20 years.
November 17th 2009 @ 7:18am
vinay verma said | November 17th 2009 @ 7:18am | Report comment
Sheek, in Desmond’s eyes the Prince of Trini is supreme and I am happy that this is so. Each to his own.
I know you appreciate all the good cricketers over the years and there have been many. Some you admire for their tenacity,others for their courage and still others for technique and elegance. Talking of respect the current West Indies side can earn this with a spirited showing next week. This will tell if the slide has been arrested or it is terminal.
November 17th 2009 @ 7:58am
sheek said | November 17th 2009 @ 7:58am | Report comment
Vinay,
I was more annoyed at his comment, “satts are useless”. Of course he meant ‘stats’, but it suggested, & I could be wrong, a closed mind.
I would agree that stats can be overblown in their importance at times, but they still hold some relevance. They are hardly useless. If anything, stats are a useful tool, as long as you don’t consider them to be the ‘be-all-to-end-all”.
Anyway, I’m just trying to avoid the housework by ranting on about this. So off I go….. !
November 17th 2009 @ 8:06am
vinay verma said | November 17th 2009 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Sheek, a closed mind that is happy is better than an open mind that is unhappy. The moral being dont worry about others’ shortcomings but rejoice in your own generosity. And that you have plenty of.
I am still celebrating Dravid’s innings yesterday. It is the fastest he has scored in a Test. And his fist pump on reaching the hundred was reminiscent of Tiger. Talking of Tiger, Dravid is the face of the campaign to save the Tiger in India…and he is doing this without coaxing and free of money. He is as stylish off the field as on it. A true superstar.
November 17th 2009 @ 8:37am
Sam C said | November 17th 2009 @ 8:37am | Report comment
I agree with your comments about Dravid. He is one of the modern greats but does not get mentioned as he is always under Tendulkar’s shadow.
February 27th 2011 @ 10:16pm
Patrick said | February 27th 2011 @ 10:16pm | Report comment
Dravid is an all round class act, but Tendaulkar would put nearly anyone in his shadow.
November 17th 2009 @ 8:43am
vinay verma said | November 17th 2009 @ 8:43am | Report comment
Sam,Dravid himself doesn’t mind being in Tendulkar’s shadow. He is a modest man and the good thing about this Indian Team is that all the ex Captains,Tendulkar,Dravid and Laxman are firmly behind Dhoni.
November 18th 2009 @ 12:36pm
Greg Russell said | November 18th 2009 @ 12:36pm | Report comment
Kersi (and anyone else who might still be reading, e.g. Vinay),
Sorry if I’m a bit late in seeing this article, but I have a comment to make. While obviously I agree that Sachin is a great of the game, I do not bow at the Tendulkar altar as most do.
I find that the reason for this is best encapsulated by an article I saw about two years ago. Unfortunately I did not save the article, but the relevant statistic that it was about can probably be quite easily regenerated. It was this: percentage of games won by a batsman’s team when he scored a test century. Of all modern players, Tendulkar was the lowest, at just 25%. This was even lower than Inzy, who came in at 33%. The highest was Gilchrist, at 80%, while Ponting was very near the top of the list in the 70s. From memory Hayden also featured well, while I can’t remember if S Waugh’s number confirmed or undermined the oft-made claim by David Hookes (and others) that he was a very selfish batsman.
Critics of this statistic will immediately notice that it is biased by the quality of the team a player is in: all the players at the top were members of the great Australian side whose era has just ended. Indeed. Nevertheless there’s no denying that Gilchrist was an extremely unselfish player whose batting was almost entirely geared towards earning victories for Australia.
Notwithstanding this, here’s the interesting bit: Dravid was at about 50% on this list, the highest number for any of India’s great batsmen of the 2000s. Tendulkar vs Dravid is very much a like-for-like comparison with this statistic, and it shows that Dravid is far more influential in setting up victories for India. If you ever got this feeling in watching India play (as I did), then it’s true!
Style is important, and of course there is not a purist who would prefer to watch The Wall over watching a Tendulkar masterclass. However winning is more important, and Dravid’s batting has been far more influential in helping India to win.
I will admit that a lot of this problem with Tendulkar is not of his making. One always senses that when he bats well, this becomes an end in itself for billions of Indian fans, and for many of his teammates too (but not Dhoni, who is a breath of fresh air for India with his drive to win). A classic example of this was the one-dayer recently where Sachin made a brilliant 175 but India just failed to chase down Australia’s 350. I got the feeling that a majority of Indians didn’t mind the loss, because they had witnessed a bravura Tendulkar innings, which was “victory” enough. Compare this with when Matthew Hayden made an Australian record score of 180 in NZ in early 2007, but NZ chased down the massive target to win – there was only annoyance from both Hayden and the Australian team over the failure to win. To put it simply, the individual’s excellence came a very distant second in importance.
However I still think that there is a lot of “me first” in Sachin’s batting. Often it looks as though he sets up his easel like Vermeer, and his only aim is to produce a masterpiece. By contrast, one always found that Gilchrist was prepared to put aesthetics aside and do whatever it took to put his team in a winning position – risk-taking, ugly shots between the classic ones, and so on. One has always got a similar feeling with Dravid too. And Ponting, and (from what one reads) Bradman.
Try as I might, I cannot see past this shortfall in Tendulkar’s play, because cricket is first and foremost a team sport.
November 18th 2009 @ 1:07pm
ohtani's jacket said | November 18th 2009 @ 1:07pm | Report comment
I don’t know what’s happened in the last two years, but checking the statistics now Dravid and Tendulkar are almost neck and in neck in terms of converting centuries into Test match victories, which has more to do with the bowlers than the batsmen. Dravid has a low strike rate in Tests (Tendulkar’s is unknown due to a solvable problem which no-one has ever bothered to solve), and without checking the scorecards, I can think of a fair number of Test winning centuries where he was involved in big partnerships.
Most people who watch Tendulkar bat, regardless of whether they’re Indian or not, are disappointed if he doesn’t make a century every time out, because everyone wants to see a Tendulkar century. Winning at all costs is an Australian mantra. There’s an equally strong spirit in cricket of watching and applauding fine cricket even in a loss. Tendulkar and Lara will always be viewed above Ponting by the majority of the cricket world because they were more beautiful players to watch. Whether this sits well with Australians, I don’t know. It’s somewhat like the greatest athlete debate or the greatest tennis player debate. It simply has to be an Australian and can’t be anyone else.
November 18th 2009 @ 2:00pm
Brett McKay said | November 18th 2009 @ 2:00pm | Report comment
Greg, I’m wondering if you can recall where Lara featured in this stat? I ask because there’s also a perception about him batting for milestones, etc, as is/was often labelled against Steve Waugh, as you mentioned.
November 18th 2009 @ 2:14pm
vinay verma said | November 18th 2009 @ 2:14pm | Report comment
Greg…Your post here is understandable and the perspicacity does not escape me. Allow me to expand on my Dravid take.
Dravid came on the scene in 1996 ,a good seven years after Tendulkar. I will come back to Dravid in a minute. The Indian Trilogy is Gavaskar,Kapil and Tendulkar. Gavaskar is the man Indians respect and Kapil the man Indian’s love. Tendulkar played with and under Kapil and was nourished by him. That Tendulkar has now transcended the other two into Vedic folklore has much to do with immediacy and statistics .
Greg,Indian Cricket,post Independence only has a sixty year History and the traditions are not as deeprooted as Australia and England. The culture of win at all costs is something that Dhoni will carry forward. It has not been easy in the past where India did not have the bowlers to win.
India now has a more balanced attack and is nurturing quick bowlers. I would suggest if through the nineties India had Sharma and Zaheer they would have won more often. I also believe the cricket India played in the Perth Test in 20078-08 was the way forward and I can see more of this in the future.
I find the win ratio argument relative to a batsman’s greatness is misleading. A batsman can only bat. He cannot be responsible for the lack of penetrative bowling.
Back to Dravid. His 177 yesterday was the fastest he has scored in a Test Match. He controlled the tempo and was in command. This after Sehwag,Tendulkar and Laxman had failed. I,too,am one not given to Idol worship and choose to define Tendulkar more in terms of what he means to India and the purity of this technique. I actually prefer to watch Greg Chappel,Mark Waugh and Dravid ahead of Tendulkar. But I cannot argue with Tendulkar’s appetite for runs. I also know he is despondent when he scores a ton and the team loses. He cannot control that.Tendulkar’s battles with Warne were epic and rank among the greatest cricket I have ever seen. The closest was Lillee bowling to Viv Richards.
In closing I beg to disagree with your assesment that Hayden or Gilchrist were more despondent than Tendulkar or Dravid.
And this in no way diminishes my admiration for Gilchrist.
November 18th 2009 @ 1:49pm
Kersi Meher-Homji said | November 18th 2009 @ 1:49pm | Report comment
For once I disagree with you, Greg.
Sachin may not be the greatest batsman in cricket history but is close to it. And selfish he is not. Of course he pays high price on his wicket, else India would not be where she is today.
His critics and so-called 2-dimensional statisticians (and you are not one of them) do not seem to understand that cricket is a team game. There are ten other players in the team too.
One can lead a horse to water but cannot make him drink. Sachin cannot do more for his country than he has. He has been foiled by sloppy fielding, inaccurate bowling and batsmen throwing away their wickets or getting themselves run out. How can you blame Sachin for this? True he is not a leader, like Chappelli and Steve Waugh were and Dhoni is. He is a soldier and expects his colleagues to follow his example.
I will never say that he is better than Lara or Ponting. All three are equally great in batting but are ordinary leaders.They are potential match-winners with their batting. Alas, like Atlas, Sachin cannot carry India on his shoulder every time.
November 18th 2009 @ 4:43pm
vinay verma said | November 18th 2009 @ 4:43pm | Report comment
Kersi..since 1996 Dravid has become Atlas’s apprentice. Dravid has scored 11000 runs since 1996. It would be an interesting excecise to see how many Tendulkar has scored since Dravid’s debut. I say this not to belittle either but to test my theory that since 1996 Dravid has been as,if not more, influential than Sachin in the Tests.
Sachin’s greatness is amplified by his exploits in the ODI’s. A total of 87? centuries. Phenomenal and worthy of Ripley’s Believe it or Not.
November 18th 2009 @ 5:18pm
ohtani's jacket said | November 18th 2009 @ 5:18pm | Report comment
Tendulkar has scored 10294 runs since Dravid’s debut with 34 Test centuries and an average of 55.04. It’s worth point out that Tendulkar accumulated these figures in 13 less Test matches than Dravid.
November 18th 2009 @ 5:09pm
Ian Whitchurch said | November 18th 2009 @ 5:09pm | Report comment
I have no intert of ranking Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh against each other.
I will only say what an era for batting we have lived in, that VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Inzaman ul Huq and Matthew Hayden are reduced to the second rank.
Ian Whitchurch
November 18th 2009 @ 5:30pm
vinay verma said | November 18th 2009 @ 5:30pm | Report comment
Too right,Ian..Let us celebrate Tendulkar and all the others mentioned. Interesting stat of 97 Test hundreds between Tendulkar,Dravid,Sehwag and Laxman and all except Laxman average over 50.
Must not forget Jayawardene and Sangakkara..both exceptional batsmen at the height of their powers.
November 18th 2009 @ 5:47pm
Ian Whitchurch said | November 18th 2009 @ 5:47pm | Report comment
Lets not forget Eid either … Mohammed Ashraful has crap stats, because he’ll score the prettiest 12 runs you’ve ever seen, and then get out to a get out shot. But when he’s on … you forget for a moment that he’ll come once a year, and betray you the other 363 days, and you watch him with bated breath and heart in your mouth, and know you are seeing the batting Victor Trumper delivered, and the rest of us only dream of.
November 18th 2009 @ 5:54pm
vinay verma said | November 18th 2009 @ 5:54pm | Report comment
Steady on,Ian..you are not on the Marley are you?
November 18th 2009 @ 6:39pm
Ian Whitchurch said | November 18th 2009 @ 6:39pm | Report comment
Nahh, mate, just good honest Australian Cab-Merlot, the stuff that th MacGilla would spit out in contempt … but did you see him against Sri Lanka, and at Cardiff ?
November 18th 2009 @ 5:19pm
dilip mahanty said | November 18th 2009 @ 5:19pm | Report comment
Kersi’s analysis is spot on. Tendulkar’s achievements are sometimes taken for granted by I(ndian critics. To score nearly 30,000 runs in international cricket with 85 centuries is mindboggling. His nearest rivals Lara and Ponting are far behind with the latter having opportunities to catch up especially in Tests, thanks to the warped logic of BCCI which does not look at Tests -worthy of support. India would have played only 9 Tests this year and 8 in 2010( Australia will play about 14 next year).
When people compare Ponting with Tendulkar they miss a few important points. Ponting did not have to face McGrath, Warne, Lee, Gillespie, Merv Hughes, McDermott backed up by generally brilliant fielding.
Neither he have to face the likes of Imran & Hadlee at the beginning of his career nor Donald, Walsh,Ambrose,Wasim ,
Waqar ,Shoiab, Qadir at their most potent. Playing against India he had to counter ,apart from Kumble and Harbhajan, only Srinath who could be termed world class. All this backed up by pathetic Indian fielding!
These factors need consideration when comparisons are made.
Kersi is right in saying that had geniuses of yesteryears to play today on covered wickets, with shorter boundaries, donning helmets and powered by bats which can send the ball miles how many runs would they have scored?
November 18th 2009 @ 5:36pm
Ian Whitchurch said | November 18th 2009 @ 5:36pm | Report comment
*grins manically*
The Tigers get to play India in two tests early next year.
As far as we can tell, thats the last Tests India are playing in 2010. They might be the last Tests Sachin Tendulkar ever plays.
I’m split between Sachin giving a heroic farewell, and the Mighty Bangladesh Tigers dusting India up. Maybe a big fourth innings hundred in a losing side ?
Sachin Tendulkar … he isnt the greatest of them all. But he is one of those we discuss, after we accept the White Headley as the best there ever was, who we will discuss, together with WG, and Trumper, and Headley, and Viv, and Ricky, and Sunil, and all those others that we dream of when we think of the best batting there ever was.
Ian Whitchurch
November 18th 2009 @ 5:58pm
vinay verma said | November 18th 2009 @ 5:58pm | Report comment
Ian, ayoung Indian schoolboy has just eclipsed Tendulkars record as a twelve year old. Something in the 300′s. So there will always be dreams. Cricket has an amazing regenerative power. In many ways like a Banyan Tree.
November 18th 2009 @ 6:41pm
Ian Whitchurch said | November 18th 2009 @ 6:41pm | Report comment
Btw, Vinay, if you like my stuff, look for the cover article at http://www.banglacricket.com
November 18th 2009 @ 7:16pm
vinay verma said | November 18th 2009 @ 7:16pm | Report comment
Had a look,Ian and I believe Shakib is the best thing to happen to the Tigers. Asraful has to convert his talent into consistent performances..he gets lazy and ahead of himself. Even the greats respect the opposition. Even the greats practice endlessly. Cricketers,composers,everyone has to continually hone their craft. Bangladesh can emulate Sri Lanka and have to work harder than they have ever worked before.They have to remember that Tendulkar at 16 was playing against the best. 20 years later he is still at the top of the tree. They need look no further than Tendulkar.