This is not to argue that Tendulkar in the twenty-first century was an inconsiderable batsman. He scored lots of runs, hit substantial hundreds, and played match-saving, sometimes match-winning innings. But something had changed, the spark that had once made him not just a very good high-scoring batsman (a Jacques Kallis, say), but a magical stroke-player, impregnable and overwhelming at once, seemed to have been extinguished.

The moment that marked that transformation from genius to journeyman wasn't a failed innings but a successful one: the match-winning hundred Tendulkar made in the Madras Test of 2001. It was the deciding Test of that extraordinary series against Steve Waugh's men. India and Australia had shared the first two Tests, thanks to Harbhajan Singh's heroics and VVS Laxman's sublime double hundred. Laxman scored a pair of lovely sixties at Chepauk but the decisive innings was Tendulkar's. It was a dour, unlovely hundred made to look even more earthbound by Laxman's unearthly cameos and it signaled the arrival of a utilitarian Tendulkar.

Utilitarian because where once Tendulkar's innings had seemed a form of self-expression, he now began to play to purpose. The way he spoke about his batting changed: his refrain became the need to play to the needs of the team, almost as if he was a craftsman working on commission. Part of this was defensive: as it became evident that he wasn't imposing himself on the bowling any more, people began to ask where the Shane Warne-annihilating persona was hiding. Tendulkar answered this chorus by saying two related things: a) no batsman could play the same way through a long career and b) as he had grown into the senior pro of the team, his role had changed in a way that required a more responsible style.

	But the real significance of this brief Australian purple patch has been the manner in which Tendulkar has scored his runs. For the first time in years he has played with intent and without inhibition © Getty Images

This explanation of late-period Tendulkar suggested a batsman using his formidable skills to adapt to circumstances instead of bending circumstances to his will as he had done in his first half of his career. Even his big innings this century seemed to bear witness to a once-great batsman adapting magnificently to the physical toll of a long career.

Take his double century at the SCG in the last Test of India's previous tour of Australia. It was a crucial innings, one that allowed the Indians to press for a victory that eventually eluded them, but that's not why we remember it. We remember it for its freakish aspect: Tendulkar scored 241 runs without once driving through the off-side. He had suffered a string of dismissals trying to drive through cover, so he just put away the shot and worked everything through the onside. His signature shot throughout his career had been that cover drive hit off the back foot standing on tip-toe and he was showing the world that he could limit his repertoire and thrive.

But the change in style was also accompanied by a secular decline in both his batting average and the frequency of his centuries. These things are relative: Tendulkar's 'decline' would constitute success for the merely very good. From the very high fifties, the average dipped to under fifty-five. At the same time the achievements of other batsmen eclipsed Tendulkar's efforts.

Brian Lara reversed a slump that saw his average plunge to into the forties and salvaged his reputation by dragging that figure up into the fifties as he ended his career in a blaze of brilliance and Ponting's career graph read like the opposite of Tendulkar's: he raised his game to such heights in the second half of his career that there were seasons when his results were Bradmanesque. A new generation of batsmen led by Michael Hussey and Kumar Sangakkara produced passages of such consistency and flair that they made Tendulkar look grizzled and tentative.

Then, in 2007, Tendulkar began his bid to rehabilitate himself. In South Africa, in Bangladesh, in England, in India and finally in this series in Australia, he emerged from the cocoon of conservative caution that had marked his batsmanship for more than five years and gave himself permission to play his whole repertoire of shots. The results were mixed: 2007 was a decent year, not an annus mirabilis: some seven hundred runs with a clutch of fifties and a couple of centuries against Bangladesh. Its real importance is only now becoming apparent: it was the necessary run up to his return to vintage form in Australia.

He has hit two fifties and a big, unbeaten 150 in five innings against the best team in the world, one that was aggressively seeking a record sequence of Test wins. This would be reassuring in itself for Tendulkar, when you consider that his last century against respectable opposition came in 2005. But the real significance of this brief Australian purple patch has been the manner in which he has scored his runs. For the first time in years he has played with intent and without inhibition. Every shot from the paddle sweep to the off-side force, to the pull and the improvised upper-cut has been taken out of storage and played. He has taken the fight to the opposition, on and off the field. I don't think it's a coincidence that after the ugly Sydney Test, it was Tendulkar who forced the Harbhajan issue and compelled Sharad Pawar to stand up for his team-mate.

Having put the mirage of captaincy firmly behind him, Tendulkar has stepped into the role he should have claimed years ago: not the senior pro of the Indian team (an NCO's role, meant for lesser men) but its grey eminence, its elder statesman. The way he is batting in Australia, that part will be his to play for years yet, at the end of which he might well stand on the pedestal that Bradman chose for him and which Cricket reserves for her most durable geniuses.

Sachin Tendulkar is definitely one of the great batsman of this era in cricket. But, any bid for immortality would have to begin with a triple century against Australia, and there are at most three innings left for him to do that, assuming that this is his last test series against them.

Good to get away from the controversies and back to cricket! Never agreed more with you (and with your book on this issue). In this modern age of ultra nationalism & jingoism (sometimes both) we tend to look too much into 'match winning' knocks, spells, etc. But the key is to look beyond and to the quality of batsmanship itself. The danger is also to look too much into stats. Delving into the works of a Gavaskar/Tendulkar/Lara would take a book itself.
These 3 played for major parts of their career for a poor batting team and against better attacks (atleast the first 2), hence whatever anyone may say, truth is that all these bloated averages and run-sprees of the Haydens, Pontings, Dravids, Kallises, etc. have come in the 21st century where fast bowling has been on its knees (amongst other circumstances that aid the batsmen).
One thing heartening about Tendulkar though is the fact that Sachin Mark II has finally a rounded form and one hopes that continues till the end.

I think its a little early to say "he is back" - we should wait another year for that. Nevertheless its a real joy to watch him play this way.
You can accuse me of thinking I am Carl Jung, but I think the caution earlier was a result of losing his pre-eminent position in the Indian line-up (forget the world). Let's hope he has finally worked around that. Let's also hope there is enough in his body to endure and give us all plenty of great batting.
Because Sachin is not bigger than the game, Sachin IS the game. (And you can throw whatever you want at me for saying that).

Sachin is, was and will be the greatest batsman ever. I think we are being too harsh on him for his form in 2005 - 2006. I guess part of it could be due to injury and part of it due to Greg Chappels interference. The coach probably did not help him recover from his injuries well and made him feel insecure. Anyway I'm a die hard fan of Sachin. There is NO WAY I can accept that Ricky or anyone else can play as glamorous and elegant an innings as Sachin does. He is a delight to watch. I hope he plays this way for a long time to come. But a good article Mukul. I just dont agree that he came down from being great to good. He will always be great and a genius.

Mukul, I think we've been spoiled by the clutch of very very good, and great, batsmen our country has produced this last decade and some.

I shudder to think of cricket without VVS' elegance, Dravid's grit, Sourav's drives, and Sachin's...well, genius.

Ricky Ponting's batting has an ugliness to it that is hard to explain; Brian Lara was never quite as consistent. Sachin Tendulkar's immortality is not an event in question. It's never been.

who sayz sachin is a gr8 batsman...who ever sayz he is jst a gr8 batsman has gone out of his mind...coz he is da greatest...itz jst tat ppl r not satisfied with what he does...der is no cricketer in da history of da game who has played so consistency for soo long...when he came into intl cricket he was compared to guyz like inzy n lara, later on it was da waughz, now i with the pontings n kallis...batsmen will come n go but only da classy ones survive for long...dravid had a purple patch for 3 yrz which has come to an end..same thing will happen to da pontings n kallis, but sachin will go on as usual n make more runs...itz high time we treat our greatest champion wid some respect n give him his dues for wot he has done...v seem to question his greatness after every second failure, tatz not fair on him...he has won more matches for india than any other cricketer for any nation, no wonder he has 65 man of da match awards in intl cricket which is much more than any cricketer in da world..

Mukul,
His genius and obvious talent was never in doubt ever since he scored that tripple hundred as a school boy.But the way he has carried himself over a span of 20 years is remarkable and for this alone he is a living legend and an inspiration to millions. The respect and awe he has commanded all over the world is not only because of his cricketing skills. ADAPTING has been the key word for him and has done so facing varying times,roles conditions,pitches,bowlers etc not to mention the unimaginable and surely unreasonable expectations we all have every time he goes out to bat. Such has been his aura. A sparkling 71 against the world's best pace attack and arguably the fastest pitch in world still left me yearning for more!Body permitting, I dont see him fading for at least the next 2-3 years although we would want him to go on and on and on....

Today (4th January 2008) shall be a day long remembered. Why?
Today Sachin completed his 232 inning in test cricket.
A brilliant 150 against world champions Australia.
Brian Lara retired on 232 test match innings.
Only now I believe you can make some general comparison between the two great batsmen.

A couple of things stand out straight away. Although Tendulkar has scored 4 more
tons in the same about of innings as Lara, (both have 48 half-centuries) he has
scored 433 runs less than Lara. 11520* compared to Lara’s 11953.
We can also see that Lara batted in more of the matches he played
in than Tendulkar has. 131 against 144 and counting. What does this tell us?
Tendulkar wasn’t needed to bat as often as Lara was. Does this not say as
much about their respective teams as it does about the individual players
but this also suggests that Tendulkar was denied the chance to complete 25
of his innings A further example of this can be seen in the ‘not outs’
each player earned in their careers. Very rarely did Lara come to the
crease having just 20 or 30 runs to knock of to win the match.
Lara’s not out total (6) is closer to that of an opener than it
is to a middle order batsman. People may say that when Tendulkar
and Lara were batting with their respective tails Tendulkar’s and
Lara’s attitude may have been quite different i.e. Lara –
let me get as much runs as I can before number 11 gets out, or Tendulkar –
number 11 will get out soon so why should I lose my wicket?. That is debatable and
not formed of any facts only conjecture.

There has always been this great debate about who was the better batsman.
Pundits have often stated that Lara’s genius is blighted by dips in form
and that Tendulkar is by far the more consistent player. The cold hard stats
do not suggest this is so cut and dry. Lara score 34 tons in 232 innings,
Tendulkar scored 38. That’s a hundred every 6.8 innings for Lara and 6.1 innings
for Tendulkar. They both scored 48 half-centuries, that’s one every 4.8 innings.
When you remove the not outs from each player’s stats you get the true picture
of how many runs each batsman actually made per inning. Lara made 51.52 runs per
inning, on average, in his Test career. Tendulkar has so far made 49.66 per inning.

Weak Opposition???
Tendulkar has played 9 test matches against Zimbabwe making nearly a 1000 runs
and three tons, one of them a double. Lara played 2 matches against Zimbabwe making
200 runs with 1 ton. Tendulkar has played 5 test matches against Bangladesh scoring
550 runs with 3 tons , one of them a double. Lara played 2 matches against Bangladesh
scoring 170 runs with one ton.
So against these weaker teams Tendulkar has played 14 matches scoring 1550 odd runs
picking up 6 tons. Lara played 4 matches scored 370 odd runs two tons. Now that’s
not Tendulkar’s or Lara’s fault but Tendulkar has played over 3 times as much cricket
against these weak teams as Lara did.

Strong opposition!!!
Tendulkar has played 23 matches against world champs Australia scoring 2090 runs making
8 tons (one double) and averaging 55.
Lara played 31 matches against Australia scoring 2850 runs making 9 tons (3 doubles)
and averaging 51.

And how did our two champion batsmen fare against the world champions finest bowlers?
Lara averaged 41.40 against Glen McGrath scoring 621 against him, Tendulkar averaged
22.16 scoring 133. And against the greatest leg-spinner of all time? Lara averaged
54.57 scoring 635, Tendulkar averaged 39 scoring 117.
so it would appear that Tendulkar has faired slightly better against Australia as a team,
but Lara performed much better against Australia's champions.

And what if we were to throw in their respective battings records?

Lara has broken the test record high score twice 375 and 400*. He holds
the record for the most runs test runs scored ever. He has scored more
runs in one over than any other in test history ,28.He is the only
player to hold all three high score records at the same time i.e. most runs in test,
high score in test, high score in first class cricket.
Tendulkar has scored more tons than any other player in test history, 38 and more
hundreds in international cricket than any other. for a more detailed
look at the records of these players Wikipedia is recommended. Tendulkar
is the undoubted king of one-day cricket and in the top 4 or five in test
cricket history. He will no doubt go on to break Lara’s most runs in test
cricket total. But Ricky Ponting will go further than him. Will, can, either
of these batsmen break the 400* or score match winning knocks like the 153* or
single handily carry their team for years on end?

Added 7th January 2008.
i kept the analysis to test cricket for obvious reasons. Tendulkar is by far the greatest
batsmen in that field and also u cannot compare two players that have played 100 odd games
more or less than each other. One last stat that i must bring to light is the Hundreds' record
that Tendulkar holds at the time. In test cricket when you score a hundred it is classed as a hundred
scored on that particular inning. A double ton does not count as 2 tons. This seems mightly unfair
on a player who has scored twice as much but is only awarded a ton for his efforts. i believe there
should be a double ton category for such events or why not count a double ton as 2 hundreds (which it is!)
This would leave Tendulkar having 42 test tons, Lara would have 46 test tons and the Don with 43!

eddy 8th jan 08

Good comparisons Eddy...
Only thing you forgot is that Lara and Tendulkar were not playing ONLY Test matches or ONLY ODIs. They were playing in the two forms of the game at the same time. And if you want to take an retrospective, take it including both. I think Lara was not as consistent as Tendulkar in ODIs. So overall Tendulkar was more consistent. I am not StatsGuru, but somebody needs to compare on these aspects, too. While Tendulkar plays at Number 4 in test, he has to play at Number 1 in ODIs. There are advantages and disadvantages of these positions, too.
We Indians consider that Gods are immortal, and we believe three Gods in our religion.
I think that The Don, Sachin and Brian are the three immortal Gods of the Game of Cricket...!!!

My goodness, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman are better players, not to mention Brian Lara.

Tendulkar is probably the best batsman of his generation. Lara fans may disagree but they omit the fact that Lara scored over 2000 test runs in dead rubber matches. He would often fail when the series was undecided and chip in with a big century in the final test e.g. vs England 2004 and vs Australia 2005. Sachin scores his runs when the series is undecided. Against Australia, the best team in the world, he averages 58 in Australia vs lara's 41. Lara was not as good away as at home. Tendulkar averages 55 at home and away. Finally commenting on Eddy's figures regarding averages against the best bowlers there is a major flaw in that- these are for innings ending in dismissal and doesn't include runs from not out innings. That's why Sachin has a poorer average against McGrath and warne.

I think the genius of Tendulkar was never in question and neither his position in the annals of cricketing history. Even if he had retired a decade ago, he would have been a legend. But what makes him the most special cricketer of this era is the way he has handled criticism and pressure. Its a fact of the day that no sportsperson in history has been subjected to the amount of pressure this man has had to live with. And add to it the 'headlines hungry critics' he had to face in the later half of his career. But never has there been a cathartic moment and he saved them all for his on-field exploits. Another venerable thing about him is his profound love and understanding of the game of cricket. Its his passion which has kept him unwavering throughout this 18 year journey. Sachin's cricketing career is a lesson in life and a tribute to the greatness of human spirit. Hail the Little Master!

Tendlya is something else baba.
It is v difficult for me to choose my favourite Indian player but the best way I just discovered is whom would you like off strike when the last over of the day is being bowled. That guy is your favourite. In such hours of trial, I have always discovered it is Tendlya. :)

i totally agree. His batting v australia has been refreshing. Hopefully he continues to bat this way, and is not just playing with this intent because it is against Australia, and he feels to do well against them you have to attack. I hope he plays like this against all teams. It has proved he has still got the ability to dominate against good teams - especially this match at Perth, where there were no easy runs v Brad Hogg.

i think the upper-cut is gettin very less amount of attention. for a player like gilly, who pretty much invented & perfected the stroke, to play da shot is pretty well amazing. but not to forget, he is from perth & is used to playin on fast pitches where da bounce has to b gotten used to since the beginning, while sachin who is from the sub-continent playin it to lee, on a perth wicket, is somethin outstanding. i'm surprised as how less attention it's getting.

having said dat, i'm juss so glad dat sachin is returnin to his old self. mayb he lost confidence in the team or of his place in the team, but now when he bats, it seems like he is tryin to tame the bull, instead of juss movin out of da way

i just think the way he is batting now he could probably carry on till another 2-3 yrs.its vintage tendulkar.its scary to know imagine indian team without his services after dat.not much time left guys!enjoy & savour it while itlasts.I personally think india cud whip sum serious ass in the next 2 matches.cheers mate

I tend to agree with most of what you are saying Mukul...but the only problem is whether this resurgence of Tendulkar to his old "supermanly" free-flowing self is based on any sort of permanence or is just another passing phase like it's been over the past few years...remember world cup 2003...or the series in Pakistan in '04 when he made a blistering hundred....they were interspersed with his typical dour and "humanly" high scoring knocks at that time....i think there's only one way we'll know whether tendulkar is back to his cavalier 1990's style of play - if there are butterflies in your stomach consistently for every ball Tendulkar faces you know he's the real Tendulkar and not the pretender that he's been in the past decade.....

Saying that Sachin would not be remembered in the annals of cricket as a genius is frankly, just shoddy mate. Ricky may be remembered as one of the greatest captains (thanks to an indomitable team), but ranking him in the same breath (of immortality) as Lara or Sachin isn't really plausible. If statistics were any indication of genius, Sachin would be there and beyond already. He has borne the expectations of a billion people on his back for close to 15 years now. That in itself is grounds for immortality. I don't believe his bid begins now. The question that shoudl eb asked is who comes next?

Some poor analysis by Mr.Eddy with stupid stats , he says agaisnt mc grath and warne Sachin made 133 runs in tests , how is that possible , he made 116 at melbourne and 126 at chennai itself , against mc grath and warne he has amde over 700 runs , pls dont post false stats in this post Mr.Eddy.

Very Good article.......To say in a word Brilliant.Tendulkar notched over 100 runs in ODI's last year and this was a new beggining of Tendulkar.He did not seem to be under any pressure,nor was he intimidated about the opposition he faced..He played with the ease of batsman who enjoys playing his cricket!He bid for immortality will only be completed if he retires as No.1 in both forms of the game!

stats dont reveal all eddy.lara's runs hides few significant facts. in aust'ia his avg is much lower.against donald & co at their fastest in SA he came a cropper. later when SA was bereft of great fast men he did well and improved his avg. similarly against wasim& waqar.in aus his centuries were scored when wickets had little bounce& pace.one 100 at perth was against a raw Mcgrath with no supporting fast men. he was never comfortable against real fast bowling. after tendlya suffered his back injury he became less attacking against spin and Lara emerged a heavier scorer against spin.But Sachin is daylights ahead of Lara against pace. No doubt on the greatness scale there is the Don and Sachin at the top. some floors below u have IVA Richards. several floors below IVA u have Lara,sunny and the rest!

Some years ago Mr Kesavan, you had in Cricinfo magazine , compared Gavaskar and Tendulkar and had put the former higher in your assessment. I am glad that you have now come around to the universally accepted view that Tendulkar has indeed been the greatest batsman ever to have played the game even if Gavaskar was also a modern day phenomenon. The fact that Tendulkar has lasted almost 20 years, playing in far off lands against the best bowling attacks over this period, sustaining a batting average of 55 tells us the whole story.During this period, technology would facilitate a closer view into a batsman's weaknesses which many believed great players of yesterday were unable to match. Bradman too lasted 20 years. But most of his cricket was played in England and Australia at a time when there were no technological inputs which bowlers could use. The only time Bradman's greatness was questioned was when he appeared only slightly more than an ordinary mortal in the bodyline series.

I still turn off the tele when Sachin gets out...

Sachin is undoubtedly the greatest ODI batsman the world has seen.But as far as test cricket goes,to me,he is only after Sir Don Bradman.
Many players come n go,retaining their distinctive styles n remembered for one particular way of batting or bowling....but when Sachin goes,how would u remember him?When I posed this to my frnds n family everybody had different answers....my father will remember him for his booming straight drives n leg flicks,my mother for his on n off field behaviour(strange!!),my brother for his lofted strokes over mid-off n on and most of my frnds for his ferocious pulls for six....now that is all round the park!this goes to show his class n versatality...n probably because of this he has so many pet names.
n that coupled with his 20 yrs long career is as solid as it can get....n still Sachin's not tired...getting runs consistently for the team!
we as humans dont value things when they are around n when Sachins gone then we'll come to know about his greatness.

I found lot of comaprisons between Lara & Sachin.I like Sachin to Lara not because of I am an Indian.If you look at their commitment we will find that for Sachin Cricket is his way of life.For Lara I felt like its a means to make money and power and he was not as dedicated like Sachin.If observe the body language of Sachin even at this age he enjoys the game like a school kid.He could have retired long time back but he doesn't want to because he loves cricket too much .

& one should not forget that all these 39 centuries have come of the wooden bat unlike Ponting who has used graphite strip in his bat only to be reprimanded by ICC. Well we will never know out of those 33 centuries that Ponting has scored how many have come of graphite. Well Done Sachin..

I urge all the fan of Sachin tendulkar to be patience.I should be the greatest of all although it has't been a long time I have started watching the Gentlemen game.I would be very thankful towards Sachin if he could regain his mid and late ninties flawless form.Also it would be a great gift to us if tendulkar could give us double and triple centruies in ODI and Test for atlest once.I want to see Saching playing for ever,making the new record;the oldest playing cricketer ever.Good luck Sachin! Go we are with you.

Sachin really was a best player till 2003 worldcup, but in the period of 2004 to 2006,he wasn't even a good player,but he was an averag player, ya,it is true.In that period of time he really struggled for runs barring one or two matches. He didn't scored a hundred for more than two years aginst tough opposition till sydney 2008 from delhi 2005,it clearly shows his bad form. You couldn't&can't see from a batsman of his ability to be like this. Even jaques can score atleast a hundred per year. But in 2008 till now he looks like a old sachin(in batting but in look he s like young). We will wait and see to completly judge him wheather he becomes his real touch or not.

I urge all the fan of Sachin tendulkar to be patience.I should be the greatest of all although it has't been a long time I have started watching the Gentlemen game.I would be very thankful towards Sachin if he could regain his mid and late ninties flawless form.Also it would be a great gift to us if tendulkar could give us double and triple centruies in ODI and Test for atlest once.I want to see Saching playing for ever,making the new record;the oldest playing cricketer ever.Good luck Sachin! Go we are with you.

Today (14th January 2008) shall be a day long remembered. Why? Today Sachin completed his 232 inning in test cricket and a day to remember.A brilliant 150 against world champions Australia.Brian Lara retired on 232 test match innings. Only now I believe you can make some general comparison between the two great batsmen.

A couple of things stand out straight away. Although Tendulkar has scored 4 more tons in the same about of innings as Lara, (both have 48 half-centuries) he has scored 433 runs less than Lara. 11520* compared to Lara’s 11953.We can also see that Lara batted in more of the matches he played in than Tendulkar has131 against 144 and counting. What does this tell us?
Tendulkar wasn’t needed to bat as often as Lara was. Does this not say as much about their respective teams as it does about the individual players but this also suggests that Tendulkar was denied the chance to complete 25 of his innings A further example of this can be seen in the ‘not outs’ each player earned in their careers. Very rarely did Lara come to the crease having just 20 or 30 runs to knock of to win the match.Lara’s not out total (6) is closer to that of an opener than it is to a middle order batsman. People may say that when Tendulkar and Lara were batting with their respective tails Tendulkar’s and
Lara’s attitude may have been quite different i.e. Lara – let me get as much runs as I can before number 11 gets out, or Tendulkar – number 11 will get out soon so why should I lose my wicket?. That is debatable and not formed of any facts only conjecture.

There has always been this great debate about who was the better batsman. Pundits have often stated that Lara’s genius is blighted by dips in form and that Tendulkar is by far the more consistent player. The cold hard stats do not suggest this is so cut and dry. Lara score 34 tons in 232 innings, Tendulkar the masterbater scored 38. That’s a hundred every 6.8 innings for Lara and 6.1 innings for Tendulkar. They both scored 48 half-centuries, that’s one every 4.8 innings. When you remove the not outs from each player’s stats you get the true picture of how many runs each batsman actually made per inning. Lara made 51.52 runs per inning, on average, in his Test career. Tendulkar the masterbater has so far made 49.66 per inning.weak opposition? Tendulkar the masterbater has played 9 test matches against Zimbabwe making nearly a 1000 runs and three tons, one of them a double. Lara played 2 matches against Zimbabwe making 200 runs with 1 ton. Tendulkar the masterbater has played 5 test matches against Bangladesh scoring 550 runs with 3 tons , one of them a double. if I write about tendulkar masterbater then i am allowed not just 1000 characters but ten thousand characters with loads of bullchit on this foking website and get away with it, Lara played 2 matches against Bangladesh scoring 170 runs with one ton. So against these weaker teams Tendulkar has played 14 matches scoring 1550 odd runs picking up 6 tons. Lara played 4 matches scored 370 odd runs two tons. Now that’s not Tendulkar’s or Lara’s fault but Tendulkar the masterbater has played over 3 times as much cricket against these weak teams as Lara did. Strong opposition!!! Tendulkar has played 23 matches against world champs Australia scoring 2090 runs making 8 tons (one double) and averaging 55. Lara played 31 matches against Australia scoring 2850 runs making 9 tons (3 doubles) and averaging 51.And how did our two champion batsmen fare against the world champions finest bowlers? Lara averaged 41.40 against Glen McGrath scoring 621 against him, Tendulkar averaged 22.16 scoring 133. And against the greatest leg-spinner of all time? Lara averaged 54.57 scoring 635, Tendulkar averaged 39 scoring 117. so it would appear that Tendulkar has faired slightly better against Australia as a team, but Lara performed much better against Australia's champions.

And what if we were to throw in their respective battings records? Lara has broken the test record high score twice 375 and 400*. He holds the record for the most runs test runs scored ever. He has scored more runs in one over than any other in test history ,28.He is the only player to hold all three high score records at the same time i.e. most runs in test, high score in test, high score in first class cricket. Tendulkar has scored more tons than any other player in test history, 38 and more hundreds in international cricket than any other. for a more detailed look at the records of these players Wikipedia is recommended. Tendulkar is the undoubted king of one-day cricket and in the top 4 or five in test cricket history. He will no doubt go on to break Lara’s most runs in test cricket total. But Ricky Ponting will go further than him. Will, can, either of these batsmen break the 400* or score match winning knocks like the 153* or single handily carry their team for years on end?

Added 17th January 2008.
i kept the analysis to test cricket for obvious reasons. Tendulkar is by far the greatest batsmen in that field and also u cannot compare two players that have played 100 odd games more or less than each other. One last stat that i must bring to light is the Hundreds' record that Tendulkar holds at the time. In test cricket when you score a hundred it is classed as a hundred scored on that particular inning. A double ton does not count as 2 tons. This seems mightly unfair on a player who has scored twice as much but is only awarded a ton for his efforts. i believe there should be a double ton category for such events or why not count a double ton as 2 hundreds (which it is!) This would leave Tendulkar having 42 test tons, Lara would have 46 test tons and the Don with 43! i am eddy the sucker on 18th jan 08

Firstly interesting article Eddie...
2ndly i think sachin and lara are on the same pedastal... some would argue sachin is better.. ssome say lara is better.. in my view both are about equal. the only thing in sachins favour is that he is still playing, so he may surpass him when he hangs up his booth. coming to sachins revival, well i agree with most, i think its too early for anyone to comment on t his since its just one series. But i think it was preconcieved that sachin will be aggressive coz thats the only way we can ever challenge the aussies. and trust me - aussies still fear him a lot. as much as VVS. Watching this new sachin has reminded me of the old sachin.. and i remember how i used to feel so nervous when he was batting.. like he could get out any ball. Its a refreshing change, i think sachin should bat really aggressively only sometimes, i dont think we can afford to have him get out to rash shots. particularly overseas when his runs are worth their weight in gold.

Besides, he batting like that does not do any good to my weakended heart.. :) Go sachin go... you're still the man...

Bid for immortality??? 2 average years out of 19 and he has to prove his immortality??

He "might" stand on the pedestal? Hahaha... do you even read your articles before posting it, but then again the title of your blog says it all "scenes from a spectator's life"... short-sighted and mediocre.

thanks for the feedback on my favourite two modern players.
the pressure these two greats played under is something
that can never be put into stats, even though Sachin had
better batsmen around him, the pressure was always on him.
With Lara it was him, and sometimes Shiv. i must agree
that Sachin's record in ODI's is remarkable seeing that he
has such a great test record also. it appears that lara
didnt pay as much attention to the shorter form of the game,
he is of course the master at making the biggest scores
(bradman included). And if we for 4get for a moment,
if that is possible, all of the 100's they have scored,
the match winning knocks(not that many between them)the
way they played the game, their inspiration to others,
fair play, they are the same. tendulkar has the greatest
longevity of modern batsmen and that means something.
holding on to his place for 20 years is remarkable.
i believe lara jumped before he was pushed and thus we
were denied watching the most spectacular batsman of
our time.

This is my personal opinion, Tendulkar would avgerage
100 if he played when the Don did. his technique is almost
perfect, his is a machine, a hundred making machine. He scores
runs all over the world and remains humble.

Lara is different. the bright lights and early records (375, 501) went
(for a while) to his head. i dont think i have ever seen a batsmen
that had as many shots as lara, all round the wicket. i still do not truly
understand the argument that Lara was less consistant than Sachin. If you mean
that he had dips in form, then yes i agree, but so has sachin. Lara scored more runs
than anyone ever and quicker than anyone, with a healthy 53 odd avg and 34 tons.
when they both reached 232 innings i wrote my first piece. tendulkar had more tons,
lara had more runs. that is a fact.

dead rubber runs?
believe me a test run is a test run. ask any pro.
i will leave you with this thought. Tendulkar will no doubt go on to get 40 odd test tons.
as i believe ponting will. that is something that is believable. To score 375 is a once
in a lifetime achievement as was the 501* but to scorescore 400* ten years
later, tens years older against Hoggard,Harmison,Flintoff and Jones is (in my opinion, even
though the 375 was a better knock) the single greatest batting feat ever achieved.
the desire, strength, concentration and skill have never been matched. thats why even though
tendulkar will score more and more runs, more and more 100's he and ponting, will never match
lara's freakish ability to score huge runs quickly, or for that matter even dream of doing so.

eddy 2008
PS im no west indian supporter or indian. i love AUS.

I believe, some of the best batsmen of all times were known for their great and favourite shots. A recent example would be sehwag, if its short and wide AND he connects chances are you will not see the ball till it stops at the fence. A feat he cannot stop himself from repeating. This according to me, is instinctive cricket. Playing at the highest level still does not take the trigger action away from them.

The sheer ability to read the game and take some of your favourite shots out of it is pure genius. Especially for someone like Sachin whose confidence in those shots must be enormous. He has also bought some shots to the game. The near vertical paddle sweep and the shot over slips, a leg glance to a ball outside off stump are all his inventions. It not only upsets the bowler but it changed fields to what was suitable for him.

Another thing being, even in his leanest of patches, the man has never been out of ideas like other fine players. He always got out trying to score.

Just one question, Mukul! Don't you think that Rahul Dravid also deserves to be up there with Sachin and Sunny as the best from India?

After reading these comments there is this pertinent question that comes to my mind.
How do you compare sportsman across eras?
Is Tendulkar better than Gavaskar? Is Federer better than Sampras? Is Schumacher better than senna?
What parameters do you pick to compare them - is it stats? is it there popularity? is it how ahead they were compared to other greats of their times?
Obviously the answer lies in the combination of many parameters. Though, on second thoughts is there really an answer. Can we really compare across eras? The other thought is - is it a question of "can we" or "should we".
But at the end Sachin is and will be the greatest cricket hero for me (over Bradman) - because he is the man who has given me so many happy moments in my growing up days.

it's not only the Runs or Records which makes Tendulkar a better player than others... But also his behaviour ON and OFF the field.. He has never been into the wrong books of ICC... No controversy.. He always reacted positively to the N no.of wrong decisions given against him.... He is the Best and Will remain the best...

someone has mentioned tht mukul once rated gavaskar better than sachin..nd tht he was wrong in doing so..
both were special because they changed the way the indian cricket team was seen....gavaskar showed to the world that we could handle fast bowling while sachin showed them that we could dominate them as well..
but i wonder if sachin'ld have been as successful against the west indian pace battery nd other genuinely fast guys like lillee nd thompson...he's a wonderful batsman, but, apart frm warne, there isn't one legendary bowler he's been consistent against...i still remember how he'ld get delightful 30's against donald, akram or waqar, nd then get out..against the pak and south african attacks his average is still very poor..which is why i personally rate gavaskar a little higher..because he scored against better attacks in more trying circumstances, in the company of fragile batsmen and incompetent bowlers nd i rate ponting lower than sachin bcoz of similar reasons...

Get over individual brilliance guys. You always root for individual idiots and as a team we always suck. Just winning one or two matches here and there. We haven't won the world cup from past 25 years and still every time we go (and fail, ofcourse) we still carry the false hope. Encourage other sports. Don't get me wrong here. I was one of the guys who was sachin-out-TV-off and also I play cricket every season too. As a team, we always fail.

Sachin has proven himself often enough that I don't need to come up with yet another reason why he is one of the best batsmen to have ever played the game. What I would add is that it's splitting hairs to look at batsmanship without considering the context in which a particular innings occurred. There's nothing wrong with a batsman batting according to the situation. Let's not forget a good many people consider the Don a technician rather than an artist -- meaning he was an accumulator more than someone who regarded batting as a form of "self-expression." Presumably, then, Mark Waugh (for example) was a better "artist" but no-one (not even Mark Waugh) would ever say he was a better batsman than the Don.

I take issue with the statement that a batsman can only possess "greatness" by having scored a triple-century against Australia. Whose definition is that? In that case, the Don fails! Given that this conlusion is ridiculous, the proposition is therefore the same.

Mukul again a nice piece....i wonder how i have turned into your fan from a vocal critic of yours till the start of this series, when you criticized Yuvi; but that's a typical indian fan for you.....blow hot and cold...However, can you please contact this EDDY guy who has been mislead by the shortcomings of Statsguru. He states that TENDULKAR MADE ONLY 117 RUNS AGAINST Warne and 122 against Mcgrath and has a averahe of 39 and 22 against them respectively, actually this is what statsguru says. However there is a serious flaw in it. While comparing the BATSMAN vs BOWLER stats, the statsguru takes into account only those innings in which that particular bowler has got that batsman out and doesn't count the runs if the batsman was got out by some other bowler or remained notout. While doing so it takes into account the all the runs that batsman scored in that innings, whether it was scored against other bowlers. For example at the end of the Melbourne Test between india and australia, Stu

EDDY you stated (using STATSGURU) that TENDULKAR MADE ONLY 117 RUNS AGAINST Warne and 122 against Mcgrath. However there is a serious flaw in it. While comparing the BATSMAN vs BOWLER stats, the statsguru takes into account only those innings in which that particular bowler has got that batsman out and doesn't count the runs if the batsman was got out by some other bowler or remained notout. While doing so it takes into account the all the runs that batsman scored in that innings, whether it was scored against other bowlers. For example at the end of the Melbourne Test between india and australia, Stuart clark had got tenduljkar out once and that happened in the first innings of that test, Sachin scored 62 runs in that innings, so that stasguru stated that sachin's average against stuart clark is Runs scored/no. of outs which is 62/1=62 now many of those runs were scored against other bowlers but since Clark got sachin out it put all of runs in front of his bowling.read rest in EDDY 2

Please read my earlier entry under BEWARE EDDY BOY Another example is the CHENNAI test 1998 india vs aus. Sachin got out to warne in 1st innings for 4. However in 2nd innings he made fabulous 155 NOT OUT and blasted Warne all over. But at the end of that test the average of sachin vs Warne is only 4 because till then warne had got sachin out only once and in that innings sachin had made only 4 runs, now if warne had got sachin out in the 2nd innings then STATSGURU would have put all of the sachin's runs (155 in this case) against Warne's name, whether a large of it was scored against other bowlers too. Now Poor Glenn Mcgrath got VVV Laxman Out for 281 in Kolkata, it doesn't mean that all runs were scored against his bowling, but STATSGURU states that, and if some other bloke would have got Laxman, Statsguru would not have taken into account that innings while doing MCGRATH Vs LAXMAN analysis..which means Laxman didn't score any runs against Mcgrath during that epic 281.

Sachin is the reason i fell in love with the game..and he is cricket for me and millions of others all over

However, I disagree on one point...the date of change in Sachin aura amongst people...

It came not in 2001 but ironically while playing his greatest innings, the tragic hundred against pakistan at chepauk in 1999.

During the match he battled back spasms, which lead to his first absence due to injury from the indian team.

1998 was the year sachin transformed from the young kid who would be the greatest to the man who was greatest. He was in the best form of his life and mind boggling things were expected of him in the future. Unfortunately, injury put paid to all that...he returned, and there was something missing. since then, the aura of sachin has only been felt intermittently. he has had to eschew shots, use lighter bats, and think of himself as the senior pro.

Sachin will still break all the records...he is still the best...but something was lost after 1999

the last sentence in the column "..well stand on the pedestal that Bradman chose for him and which Cricket reserves for her most durable geniuses." says it all for the Little Master.

Excellent write this was.

What a great description of a batting genius like Sachin Tendulkar! I have always felt that his average does not reveal the flair with which he has played throughout his career. We have had a good share of great batsmen in this era - ganguly, dravid, & laxman, and some brave bulldogish batsmen like yuvraj and dhoni, but if I was to compare 50 runs made by tendulkar and 50 runs by some other batsman, I will enjoy tendulkar's knock more. I hope this is not a temporary phase in tendulkar's life where he is in kind of a mid-life crisis, but hope it stays til the day I dread to imagine - the day he retires.

When did a 300 against Australia become the definitive indicator or everlasting genius? Gavaskar never scored a 250 even. Dravid doesn't have a 300 under his belt. Sehwag has a 300 against Pak, does that make him a shade lesser than a genius for eternity? Sachin's greatness is laid in stone due to the fact that he was 16, a mere schoolboy, when started out and has been playing virtually nonstop since then, barring a few injuries a couple of years. Add to the that the unrealistic hopes of a billion, and you have a burden even Hercules would have found difficult to bear. Lara played the big innings better, Steve Waugh saved more matches and Dravid consolidated the innings better. But Sachin carried a team single handedly through the nineties, inspired a whole generation and made every schoolboy cricketer a wannabe Sachin. Stats alone, favourable or unfavourable, do not do justice to Sachin's cricketing genius or influence.

Sachin will remain as the best batsman in both forms of cricket as long as cricket is being played in future. There is little doubt if his records would be captured considering the fact that there are many and many more to come. His close contender would be Ponting but it is highly unlikely that he would achieve this given the fact that the Aus selectors have the reputation of axing any players on performance, age and consistancy. Sachin may play for the next 2-3 years but i doubt if Ponting would sustain upto that many years.

Sachin will remain as the best batsman in both forms of cricket as long as cricket is being played in future. There is little doubt if his records would be captured considering the fact that there are many and many more to come. His close contender would be Ponting but it is highly unlikely that he would achieve this given the fact that the Aus selectors have the reputation of axing any players on performance, age and consistancy. Sachin may play for the next 2-3 years but i doubt if Ponting would sustain upto that many years.

sachin is one of the gods of cricket. no one will ever come close to carrying on the torch of humility and flame of regality as he has done throughout his career. give obeisance u stupid aussie team

How about the bad decisions going against Tendulkar, no umpire in this world has spared Tendulkar. How many wrong decision Pointing got none on the top of it he gets more chance to bat even though he his out. So if you include this into the stats, Pointing would be around 52 and if you take out all the unfair decisions to Tendu, his average might be clsoe to 65. Also do not forget about the stupid sledging about Aussies calling mental disintegration.

How about the bad decisions going against Tendulkar, no umpire in this world has spared Tendulkar. How many wrong decision Pointing got none on the top of it he gets more chance to bat even though he his out. So if you include this into the stats, Pointing would be around 52 and if you take out all the unfair decisions to Tendu, his average might be clsoe to 65. Also do not forget about the stupid sledging about Aussies calling mental disintegration.

how can you rank a batsman who made such a noise when his captain declared when he was on 194, as a great batsman. Isn't this pure jingoism on our part.

True, Tendulkar is playing very well, but to jump on the bandwagon of people who are falling over themselves to slather praise on his 'return' is going to far.
For one thing, there really never was too much 'old glory' . True, he did play those stunning innings in Australia in 92-93 and against SA in 96;especially praiseworthy given that he WAS the Indian batting then. But, to say that he is a non-pareil genius is just going to far. For one thing, I believe that he has never been a very technically proficient batsman. He has this incorrigible tendency to fish outside his offstump and that he played his Sydney innings of 241 by eschewing this stroke tells all.
And to add my $.02 to the Lara-Tendulkar debate, let us just focus on the emotional impact viewing their batting has; and in that aspect Lara's majesty lies stratums above. He is pure, unadulterated GENIUS. And the Don's words and yours regardless, Tendulkar shall NEVER ever approach that sublimity of strokeplay. Never.

It's quite clear how pathetically biased we Indians are.

only in cricket do we have such silly meaningless comparison articles. And only by Indians

shows how typically one sided we are when we say the highlight is not Australia winning 16 tests on a trot, but an individual batsman making 60's and 70's in a lost cause. Especially after the same batsman was once accused of selfishness when he complained of being declared out of a double century

kesavan you say gavaskar's claim to greatness was that he resigned on a high. Well if that's a valid claim to greatness then almost every non-Indian player is a genius. They don't have to be asked to go, they leave on their own, unlike our selfish desis.

To all those who are becoming emotional about supporting Sachin's value and position in the annals of cricket history, calm down & take a deep breath. Sachin is great and no one can deny that. He is disadvantaged to a large extent as the support cast in his team was so mediocre, that he often ended up on the losing side. Till Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman and Saurav arrived on the scene, he battled alone. When he retires, his biggest disappointment will be that he was never part of world cup winning team, though he richly deserves this. He had an opportunity in 2003, but squandered it foolishly. I still remember how he was set up fr that dismissal. I also agree with the popular notion that he generally fails when India desperately needs him to fire. Did you ever wonder that even debutants are not worried when they are bowling to him. I wish to see Sachin so aggressive that Brett lees/Shaun Taits should refuse to bowl, as he almost threatens them with his presence. I know, it wont happen.

And yes, Eddy above might have misinterpreted some these stats but he gets right at the heart of the debate when he avers that Lara's fewer not outs indicate his immense burden all through his career. He WAS the WI team; and my goodness! what a team he was!
Innings like the 153* againsy Aus, the 196 against SA, the 213 against Aus, the 277 against Aus are immortal innings replete with such breathtakingly staggering strokes; vicious cuts and glorious caresses through cover, devastating pulls and finer-than-silk-fabric late cuts, he played them all with a serene languid grace and brought joy to the millions those who witnessed them.
True, he too might have had this unfortunate tendency to attempt flashy cuts to wide balls, but he MORE than made up for it with his virtuosity.
To alter that famous Churchill apophthegm is to describe him: "There goes God".

Sachin Tendulkar is the GOAT.Bloody let anybody dispute this i dont care He is my Greatest Hero.
1) Crazy Expectations as Warne said people expect 2 wickets to go down quickly to see the Great One bat.
2) All the endorsement/money in cricket is primarily due to the "Great One".Now every Tom,Dick & Harry endorses from undi to lungi.
3) Level headed individual/Great family man a role model for all.Is that what superstars are for? is it not.Not some weed smoking ,dame screwing kind
4)Most important of all is the amount of happiness he has given by his exploits.Even if there is a great despair in our Nation one Tendulkar ton was enough to lift the spirits.I dont remeber any player giving such a satisfaction.
Dont belittle by saying he does not play in the crunch situation and all such crap and even if anybody does i give 2 hoots.

Now to Cricket.
1) From 90's on no good bowlers to left handers.Only Akram,Waqar,Donald,more SA's and definelty Ambrose and Walsh and the australians.

continued from my previous post
When these guys were at thier peak no centuries to the "If he gets his mind right" Lara except Australia.Tendulkar i think 11.
2) All the new greats and including Lara has been more consistent from 2001 the Haydens,Gillys,Pontings,Laras,Kallis have scored from 2001 on when the bowling is at its worst.All these AUstralians cant play swing.Lara is a genius against sping and medium pace not real pace proven by my 1st point.Kallis poor against the best team Australia which is the only country with a decent attack.Tendulkar is a complete player.Attack and Defence immaculate.
3) I see a guy called Eddy has posted with averages comparing Tendulkar and Lara.Against McGratth Tendulkar in 99 & 2001 more than 500 runs.Against Warne night mares to him.
4) and last but not the least the mirror Tendulkar looked into says He is the Great one and again i dont care what anyone says.

It's incredible reading the indians respones and support for journalism blinded by patriotism like that of Gavaskar. Clarke waited to see the finger even though it was clearly out. No rules broken, indian uproar. Ricky Ponting went forward on an agreement made between him and the indian captain. No rules boroken, indian uproar. Symonds refused to walk when the umpire failed to give him out. No rules broken, indian uproar. Harbhajan racially abuses Symonds - rule broken,india threatens to pull out of tour. Simply because millions of indians think Tendulker is the more trustworthy does not make him a million times more trustworthy than Roy. The illogical indian response has given the rest of the world every reason to dislike them. I rmemeber after 05 when we aussies were accusing england of some unsporting tactics...which was dismissed as sour grapes. Our response - we went back and trained harder than we ever had before and smashed them 5-0 a year later - sure felt better than whinging.

Eddy, your stats about batsman v bowler, derived from stats guru's stats, are seriously flawed. It only considers the average when the batsman got out. Lara scored many runs agains the two great bowlers, but he also got out many times to them. Tendulkar got out to these two on very few occations. When he did not get out to them, he scored very highly. If you have been following Australian cricket for long enough, you would know that his REAL AVERAGE (especially against Warne) is a log higher than what you think it is)

Watch Lara on song and watch Sacin on song. There shouldn't be any doubt that Lara is the greater of the two. Also, Dravid, Laxman, Mohammad Yousof, Kallis are also equally great players. Sachin's record in 4th innings, the toughest conditions in which to bat, is dubious. I suppose that should also be a major consideration in judging the best test batsmen. Another thing to note is that a 20-year career hasn't produced a match-tunring knock like Laxman's at Calcutta. Dravid, on the other hand, has performed in most of India's major away wins and draws.
However, Tendulkar is the greatest one-day batsman along with Adam Ghlicrist.

You can make stats argue whatever case you want to. Greatness is something that is measured with emotion too: there are players whose presence and play makes people emotional in ways that other players can't. Lara? Good player. Doesn't get much emotional response from me. Ponting? Same. Kallis? Now here's someone who gets my emotions going - he is a great player (but could be even better!). Sachin? When I read about his recent comeback and his driving through the covers off the back foot, tears ran down my cheek. Nobody else has ever achieved that.

Then there's the way the player has conducted himself over the years. Lara? Ponting? Gavaskar? Not a touch on Sachin.

It's emotional, a gut thing beyond computers and stats. It's joy, admiration, thinking "now there's someone who embodies the Spirit Of Cricket".

Try another question: As a person (not a star batsman), would you want them in your family? Stats can't answer that question for you!

When are we going to stop swooning over tendulkar's brilliance and talk about winning matches ? It is highly ludicrous to suggest that this austrlian tour is about tendulkar's immortality and not about Winning the series. I am a big Tendulkar myself but these sort of articles are in really bad taste. He played very well as he has done in the past and will continue to do well in the future. But what abt our team ? This kind of hero worship is actually preventing our team to do well. Talent wise, the sub continent teams match the Australians but this level of adulation is what prevents us from being the No 1 team in the world. Sometimes I wish if we stopped watching cricket then Our team will start playing like the Australians :)

In 1998, he had around 6,500 runs in one-dayers. In 2008, he is about to cross 16,000 runs in one-dayers and people have been saying that his second half of the career hasn't been as good as his first half.
People also say that he is not a match-winner. Could someone tell me how do you get most no. of 'man-of-the-match' awards without being a match winner??
Shane Warne once said that you can't please everyone.

Kallis will break all records as a batsman and allrounder. Unbelievably consistent player.

LARA undoubtedly has a larger stomach for scoring runs than Tendulkar. But the difference here is that Sachin played under the UNSURMOUNTABLE PRESSURE of a billion fans who expect a century from him in every innings. You have to give it to him for getting the runs he got under this pressure. Anyways, great article Mukul.

I'm thoroughly enjoying watching Sachin thoroughly enjoying his time in the middle during the current tour of Australia. He appears a man relishing the all-too-rare opportunity of battling the undisputed world champions on their home turf and in the most beautiful and meaningful format of the game. To me, it's clear that in the later stages of his career, only the truly big challenges really get Sachin's juices flowing and focuses his concentration levels so sharply. Sachin has already booked his place (regardless of how he performs for the remainder of career) in the rarefied air of the hall of the greatest bats in history and with Hobbs, Richards, Sobers, Hammond and (as is looking increasingly likely) Ponting. Bradman is of course in a golden tower adjacent to the hall, an average of about 40 steps further up. Fans therefore, should delight in this swashbuckling and elegant Tendulkar now for I he will ease back once the ultimate prize of an Aussie scalp is no longer on offer.

tendulkar is batting well but the umpires refuse to give him out lbw,he should have been out twice lbw in sydney to micheal clarke and andrew symonds should of had him out lbw for 40 in this test both its cost australia extra runs,if you get a extra life thiers no excuse not to score a 100.rahul dravid was plumb lbw for 70 and he went on to score another 20 runs.whats the point in bowling if the umpire wont give out lbws.i bet if the don had a extra life he would of scored a big hundred.

the aussies are showing tendulkar to much respect,they had two men back for the hook and tendulkar didnt play one hook shot,i would take one of these men and put him in short cover and stop all the singles sachin was hitting and keep him on strike for more balls and make play a rash shot,make him hook or make him look for singles in another area.his scoring to many easy singles in cover.

australia were too soft in this test match and let india play easy cricket,stuff the spirit of cricket

Tendulkar vs Lara....
Lara had the expectations of maybe a few million people, the interest of maybe a few more million and the interest of a country whose national sport is probably basketball(I.e. west indies)....
For one thing, when Sachin goes out to bat i have to hold my breath and cant even watch him bat. Thats how much i want him to do well. Thats the sort of pressure i feel when he bats. There is no comparison of the pressure that man has had to bear and the expection which he carries for others. When i say other i mean a billion people..... The biggest test...When you ask an Aussie who is the greatest in the modern era they generally say Sachin...Thats compliment !! The biggest shame has been that the BCCI has focused Indian cricket on ODI's. Pointing has almost played the same no. of tests as Sachin now. But Tendy has been playing for another 5yrs more. Does that make sense 2u? If India played a lot more test cricket i think u wud hav seen that it wud be a different story !

So i believe the statsguru gives us a false view of Tendulkars performences against the aussies.
please correct me if im wrong, is that not the same for lara? Oh i remember lara only has 6 not outs and tendulkar has 25. if fact of the top 60 to 70 top test scorers of all time lara has the lowest not out figure 6 (along with Gooch,Kanhai,and beefy. Leaving the nitty gritty of stats behind perhaps my second piece on this blog is more to the indian fans liking. i find the indian fans very passionate about Tendulkar, their one true champion of all time. i myself love tendulkar as a player and gentleman although there was somthing special about Azharuddin.

Just on the Lara note.....

Lara is still going strong, though not at national level. The last first class game he played (carib beer series inside west indies)....he scored 123 in the 1st inning and 57 (from 23 balls) in the 2nd innings with 3 6's...hmmm!

God first created Lara, Sachin was an afterthought.

I can't quite put my finger on what is wrong with this piece by MK, and in many responses to it as well. We're told the "real story" of the last year from an "Indian" POV is Tendulkar's bid for immortality. I don't think it is. The real story is we have never understood that cricket is a team game and about team victories and defeats. I don't know what's cause and what's effect here. Are we obsessed with individual performances bcoz our sorry record in cricket leaves us no choice? Or is it that we have such a sorry record bcoz of our obsession with individual records? I don't know. I do know the tenor of the piece lends itself to statistical "proofs" that various respondents offer to show X player is better than Y. I fear we are missing the forest for the trees. The Windies reigned supreme in the '80s coz they were the best team - not bcoz Richards was a very good batsman or Holding a great bowler.

I would take this opportunity to draw your attention to a couple of issues in the hope that cricket is played in the best interests of all stakeholders. In resolving these items, you may have to wear the board cap and preferably that of an elder statesman.

1. You will recall that the Pakistan captain Rashid Latif was banned for five ODIs by South African match referee Mike Procter for claiming an illegal catch in a Test match against Bangladesh. The incident occurred on September 6, 2003 during the third and final Test of the series in Multan when Latif claimed a dropped catch against middle-order batsman Alok Kapali and the umpire upheld the appeal of the fielding side.

Television

Sachin is awesome. There is no question of his position is world cricket. He is Number 1 always. Hoping to see many more glorious innings from the Little Master. Sachin U ROCK.

Everyone seems to b interested in Sachin,a batsman & not Sachin a Cricketer & a Humble Human.Can anybody tell me any 1 cricketer who can bowl both offspin & legspin & also medium pacers?Is there any player who had never fielded in the Slips during better part of his career but later on transformed himself into a Slip fielder after almost 17 years of Intl Cricket? How can one question his Commitment even after knowing this.He's probably the only Sportsperson who has ever been criticised even after Splendid Performance! Nobody can forget how the media spread stats that when he scored a 100,India loses.This might b a co-incidence but it's not the way u treat a great player who has dedicated more than half of hs life to Indian Cricket(He's just 34 & has represented India in Intl Cri for more than 18 years i.e 53% of his lifetime)Well done Sachin.Keep playing for India until u feel that u must retire.U r d Best judge of ur Ability.Never care for these useless critics. Good Luck Team India.

TEndulkar should have scored some runs today.He has just dissapointed his fans and shuttered the millions dream.Although I am from Nepal I have loved the Sachin way of scoring run and his discipline.There should be one award announced By ICC,naming the most discipline player of the era or lets say of the decade.Anyway I am sure that this superb talent,amazing strokes making ability and hunger of runs will never be stop.Lara has played till in his late 30s,Sachin should do the same.I admire those who entertained me,who is entertaining me and will enterain in the future.Sachin increase the weight of your bat,Please!!!!!!!!

I can't understand one thing why in the GOD's name people dish out so many statistics whenever a topic comes about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. I haven't understand what they want to prove with these numbers. I mean, seriously I have never seen this kinda scrutiny on any other player. If Sachin fails thats a problem, if he scores then he did't score fast enough, he did't score with cover drives blah blah..Ponting failed in 4 of the 5 innings against India, no body is questioning but with Sachin we have to analyze every shot every inning, thats ridiculous. And as someone said, his immortality was never in question and never will be.

Excellent remark by Beware Eddyboy
Even I was surprised when Eddy mentioned the stats of Tendulkar and Lara against Aussie bowlers. Against Warne/Mcgrath, the cumulative number of runs scored by Tendulukar is more than double that of Lara's. Just check the espn score stat

Firstly, an excellent piece from Mukul. And, a pretty good analysis by Eddy, not withstanding the relevant comments from Beware Eddy Boy.

Two things:

1. It doesn't make sense to compare people across generations because you introduce too many variables.
The best endorsement of a player is what his peers think about him. And, both Sachin and Lara have had their share of fans from amongst the playing fraternity.

2. On the arithmetic of Batting Average computation:
Not Outs - one should apply an average not out % to be fair to the batsmen being compared, or simply divide Number of runs by number of innings. (as Eddy has done).

Otherwise, we will have Bevan like anomalies.

We ought to be able to separate "exploits" against particularly weak oppositions like Bangladeshs or Zimbabwe from the rest of the record - it is simply not fair to include mammoth, average boosting scores against either of these nations.

A very good article. Tendulkar will not read this, but I would like to say, I have seen him in his youth, and in his pomp. I have seen him play as though India's future depended on it, in recent times. All I say, is play the way you are capable of, it is time others played those long grinding innings. Or they will never learn.
Mr Tendulkar, you and VVS Laxman have rare gifts.Don't let both your legacies be of passion denied on the one hand, of filling a hole others are better suited to doing, and then leaving none to fill it.

It would be blasphemy to question Sachin's credentials.
However I honestly hope for his sake that 2008 shall be the beginning of this epic - volume 2.
I also wish that he adds a few more 2nd innings masterpieces to his Test resume, like the 155 not out vs Oz and the 136 vs Pak (both at Chennai)

A lovely thoughtful piece by Mukul. A true measure of a batsmen is more than mere stats (cannot believe people have wasted time to analyse Lara v Tendulkar yet again... what time people must have on their hands!)...

Greatness is both a state of emotional rapture and dignity. Yes there are other cricketers who have enraptured us in the way Tendulkar has... the Lara's, the Warne's etc ... BUT when it comes to dignity and humility Tendulkar makes them all appear mortal. Hence, Tendulkar's obvious genius along with his unsullied dignity is what makes him truly special. That, and the fact that Shane Warne, the greatest bowler who ever lived, agrees with me.

PS -

Lara may have been a marginally better test batsmen than Tendulkar, but Tendulkar was the better over-all batsman, a better cricketer, and BY FAR a better person :-)

You can only compare batsmen with their contemporaries. And none of Bradman's contemporaries averaged more than 60 either ... the lack of science was balanced by uncovered wickets etc. etc.

Tendulkar and Lara may be best to watch of this generation - although Ponting, Kallis & even Dravid statistically compare favourably (Ponting particularly so), but Bradman is a level above everyone for the best of all time.

To suggest otherwise is to ignore history.

Sachin is still the best player around and you can judge it merely by the fact that almost 60% ppl still stop watching the match when he gets out (me included in dat- although in the 90s, the percentage was above 95%), to sustain it over 20 yrs and still going is a testament to his commitment,he was, is and will for ever be the GOD of cricket, he by a long margin is still the most worshipped cricketer in the world, the person who carries billion hopes, and has done so for the past 18 odd yrs, mere mortals wudnt have survived, let alone flourish under such pressure , keep going GOD