Sachin Tendulkar:Over-rated and over-worshipped ?
A few years ago it was common to see cricket fans holding posters during matches proclaiming that if cricket was their religion than Sachin Tendulkar was their God. But now the unthinkable has finally happened. For the first time, post the India-S.Africa tour, people seriously questioned whether Sachin deserved his seat at the table. For the first time, newspaper columnists who never dreamed of questioning Sachin's prowess, wrote long articles analysing whether the Tendulkar era was drawing to an end, or worse, was already a done deal.
One thing is for sure. Sachin Tendular would never join the pantheon of all time greats in the league of Don Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar. This exclusive club belongs to batsmen who, BY THEMSELVES, could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat or at least save the team some face, not JUST IN INDIA, but on any ground in the world. Gavaskar has an average of above 90 runs against the West Indies in the West Indies and that too facing a quality of bowling that is leagues ahead of any pace attack Sachin has ever faced. Bradman, could demolish any team he wanted, whenever HE chose to.
Sachin? Doubtless he is a great batsman, but NOT an all time great. It is a documented fact that whenever the Indian team needed Sachin during crunch times, Sachin has failed to deliver. Most of his big knocks have happened on Indian grounds in conditions he is well used to. This is NOT to say, that Tendulkar has never made a big knock abroad against a quality team, of course.But simply that, on balance, he has always been on a weaker wicket abroad, facing quality teams like Australia and Pakistan. His stats back this observation.
Sachin Tendulkar:
Mat I NO Runs HS1 HS2 HS3 Ave 100 50 0
Career 378 369 36 14728 186* 152 146 44.22 41 75 17
At home 127 124 13 5174 186* 146 139 46.61 16 28 4
Away 118 117 8 3799 141 128 127* 34.85 8 18 8
Statssource:www.cricinfo.com
The above stats show the comparision of Sachin's Career summary (batting) against the 'unfiltered' results. They are then compared against Sachin's performance away from home against any team. Sure enough Sachin's average falls from 46.61 at home to a measly 34.85 away from home.
Now look at Ricky Pontings stats:
Mat I N O Runs HS1 HS2 HS3 Ave 100 50 0
Career sum 266 260 31 9670 164 145 141* 42.22 21 57 16
Home 112 110 9 4088 124 123 119 40.47 8 26 8
Away 84 82 13 3268 164 141* 129 47.36 8 19 4
Statssource:www.cricinfo.com
Pontings average actually INCREASES away from home to a splendid 47.
So don't let Tendulkar's crackerfire 100 against the weak West Indies team recently in Baroda, fool you.He can be my god only if he scores at an average of 50 or above in the West Indies in the next World cup and more importantly help the Indian team to victory at least till the Semi-final stage.
If not, Tendulkar would have to resign himself to the ranks of ONE of the great batsmen of the world but certainly not THE all time great.
Labels: GetSporty
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