The other side of the Tendulkar debate

 
Mina Anand Roar Rookie

By Mina Anand, 3 Dec 2009 Mina Anand is a Roar Rookie

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Indian batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, right, and V.V.S Laxman return for the tea interval on the final day of the first cricket test match between India and Australia, in Bangalore, India, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008. AP Photo/Gautam Singh

Indian batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, right, and V.V.S Laxman return for the tea interval on the final day of the first cricket test match between India and Australia, in Bangalore, India, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008. AP Photo/Gautam Singh

So Mr. Truf Saya has had his say. But there are two sides to this statistical debate. At the outset, I’d like to state that you do not judge a champion player by counting his “man of the match” awards, or the “number of drawn matches” he has played in.

Nor do you compare great contemporaries by analysing their not so vital stats.

When we rate Tendulkar, Dravid, Lara, Kallis and Ponting as great players, do we remember their man of the match awards, and other irrelevant statistics, or do we just go by the sheer class of these legends?

Do we sit and count how many runs per matches they scored, or the number of innings that they went past the three figure mark?

When we think of them, don’t we just admire them for the rank pleasure that their game and characters evoke? The grand way that they play?

Statistically, there is no debate.

Tendulkar’s volume of runs and tons submerges every other cricketer’s figures.

Also, consider the one billion followers, who breathe down his neck – that’s scary numbers for anyone to contend with. Only a Tendulkar can deal with that kind of pressure.

But if you insist on going by carefully chosen data, then you must give the whole picture – not just selective figures.

So Tendulkar has played in 66 drawn matches. Have we bothered to check why the matches were drawn?

Surely there are innumerable factors that go into the making of a drawn cricket match. A lifeless pitch could be the reason. So could lethargic bowlers, easy batting conditions, both teams – and their captains – having a ‘take it easy’ attitude, or even inclement weather.

A drawn match is not to be dismissed so contemptuously.

Has the author ever seen exciting drawn matches where the last day ends in one team saving the match? Where wickets tumble, and the viewer is on the edge of his seat hoping that his team will manage to stay put? 

Or dig themselves in? Or last out the ticking overs? Or that his team can chase down that total and actually win the match?

There’s a suggestion that playing in India produces the runs.

If that is the case, then how do overseas players struggle on turning tracks and ‘lifeless’ pitches? Surely, the averages of non-Indian players should have shot up, by playing in India?

Does Mr. Saya not know that Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have the best ‘away’ record amongst international cricketers?

That they take pride in the fact, that their runs and tons come as freely in foreign climes, as in their own land?

Again, if you wish to argue on the point of ‘numbers’, here is my ‘selective’ pick from Test cricket records:

Highest overall partnership runs by a pair:
Yes, the much maligned Tendulkar and Dravid are up there – third in the list of great partnerships. Isn’t test cricket all about teamwork?

Sachin figures four times in this list of partnerships, whereas Ponting and Kallis are mentioned just three times.

Most hundred partnerships by a pair:
Ponting appears twice in this list. Sachin, on the other hand, appears three times. And Kallis, just once.

Highest career batting average:
Yes Ponting has a higher average, but Kallis is lower on the list. And, as Tendulkar has played much longer than Ponting and Kallis – in years, and in innings – it is all the more creditable that he has kept up his average.

You don’t have to be Einstein to know that the average batsman does not have great averages. That it’s only the greats that consistently maintain high averages.

Fastest to 10,000 runs:
Lara is first. Then it’s Sachin. Then it’s Ponting and Dravid. Kallis is way down this list.

Most runs in match – on the losing side:
Guess who heads this list – Brian Charles Lara!

Most ducks in career:
Lara figures in this as well! Does this make Lara any less of a player?

2009 batting averages:
Ponting : 10 matches, 17 innings, 41.35. Sachin: 5 matches, 8 innings, 69.71.

Fastest to 10,000 runs in one-dayers:
Sachin and Ganguly, followed by Ponting. The fastest to 12,000 was Sachin.

Moreover, Sachin has the best record against Australia, the best team of his era.

The fact is that all these great players have performed consistently and brilliantly, and their cricket delights the viewer, never mind the arithmetics.

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