vijay said:
Steve Waugh's average was only 50 but through out his career but he was a bigger match winner and won more tests for the Aussies than than Lara and Tendulkar put together albeit batting at No 5 or 6 behind a formidable batting line up. Lara has won more series than Tendulkar inspite of playing along with a weaker team. Sachin performed well against Australia in his debut series down under way back in 91-92 and also at home against them and followed it up against them at the Sharjah. Delivering against Australia can generally hype up the stature of any player. Just ignore this contributions and remind me of any other series that Tendulkar had dominated and won by himself.
If its a three match sereis against a team he would score a century and remain not out and hence it would boost his average up. But he would go missing when the stakes are high - if a high second innings total remains to be chased or a test match needs to be saved.
In the 99-00 series against Australia Tendulkar was man of the series, in the 97-98 series against Australia he was man of the series. So in 2 consecutive series against the team head and shoulders above all he was rated man of the series home and away. In 1998 alone he hit 6 centuries in all forms of the game against Australia, incl 3 centuries on the trot in the ODI form. To get the respect of the Aussies players and public is something not many manage.
Waugh was a great player but he had the best bowling attack and batting attack in the world to back him up. You want to talk about boosting averages up but Waugh only averages above 50 because of his not outs and that was due to him batting late down the order. If he went on to make a brilliant (e.g) 125 and set the other team 250 to win his bowlers could get the other team out under 150. Sachin could go on and make a bigger score and set the other team 300 and his bowlers would either not get them out. As for Lara, he still at least had 2 brilliant bowlers in his side in Ambrose and Walsh, Ambrose retired in 2000 and Walsh in 2001. Did Tendulkar ever have the calibre of bowlers like Walsh, Ambrose, McGrath, Warne, Gillespie(when he was good) to help him out? People ignore that too often. Most of his hard work went to waste and because of that they say he didn't perform when it mattered, a great allrounder might score centuries and knock over a top over but not a specialist batsman.
vijay said:
Tendulkar got noticed as he had a better technique than Bradman combined with the aggression of Richards. In the last five years or so after he lost his captaincy to Ganguly, he started to curb his natural strokeplay and started to accumulate runs in a workman like manner. In the recent seasons, he is just playing for records.
Nonsense, once you hit a certain age you can't be the free flowing batsman you once were. Look at football players, Keane was all over the pitch when he was 24 but 10 years later the same player just can't cope with that work load either. Tendulkar has been carry the hopes of a nation for 15 years, he deserves a bit of slack and respect.
vijay said:
I am just putting things in the right perspective. After Lara/Waugh.. Ponting and later Hayden have proved they are bigger matchwinners and more consistent than Sachin. Dravid, Sehwag and Laxman have influenced the national team more than what Sachin did when he was at this peak albeit Sachin was more elegant to watch. He is certainly one of the best batsman of the modern era but in no way he can be rated higher than Lara or Waugh and Ponting or Hayden.. after they retire. He is not as good as hyped by the media.
I'm sorry you know nothing about cricket if you rate Hayden higher than Tendulkar, if I had read earlier I wouldn't of even bothered replying to this post. That is a complete joke and you must surely be out of your mind if you think that.
When Ponting can come to India and learn how to play spin here then I'll rate him among the best, it will forever remain a pretty large mark on his record until he improves his stunning average of 12 in India.
You might not rate him but when players like Bradman, Viv Richards, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara himself, Glen McGrath, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Murali, Andy Flower, Jason Gillespie and your fav player Steve Waugh hail Tendulkar as a great batsman then I'd take their word over yours. A few of those players rate him as one of the all time great batsman and Steve Waugh says he is only 2nd to Bradman. I can post a few quotes on here for you
Ricky Ponting: “I've always thought he's the best batsman I've seen or played against,”
Steve Waugh: “You take Don Bradman away and he (Sachin) is next up, I reckon.”
Brian Lara: “Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal. I would like to be a lot more consistent. I would like to be a (Sachin) Tendulkar, or someone like that, someone who could go out in the middle and keep scoring; if he doesn't get a hundred, he gets at least 30 or 40, and scores like that. You know, it would be great to be that sort of individual.
But, looking at it, I am also happy to be the player that I am. The big scores that I get, scoring 500 runs in one innings, or 375 runs in another innings, is something special too. I have got to be able to take the good with the bad. I am quite happy with the way things are for me batting-wise. But, as a top-flight player, you want to be considered not only as someone who could spoon out great performances, but someone who has been consistent over the years. I have not been able to measure up to that yet, but hopefully, in the latter part of my career, I will be able to do that.”
Andy Flower: “There’s Sachin on one hand, and then there are the rest of us.”
Glenn McGrath: “For me, it's Tendulkar. Both are class acts but I am saying this because I have had more success against Lara than I have against Tendulkar. I think I have a fair idea of what Lara likes and doesn't like and I feel I can make his life at the crease very uncomfortable. He is vulnerable outside the off-stump early on and is not as tight as Tendulkar in defense. I would go for Tendulkar as the best in the world.”
Jason Gillespie: “In my opinion it’s Tendulkar who is ahead of the two. Mentally stronger than Lara, he has a better technique as well. Tendulkar doesn't get worked up like Lara when the opposition has a few words to say to him. Lara on his day can be destructive, but you have to look at consistency and I think Tendulkar is definitely more consistent than Lara.”
Viv Richards:
Q: Do you see any weakness in Sachin’s batting? Anything you want corrected?
A: Weakness? (Incredulous.) Corrected? When a guy is playing like that you don’t have a look at his batting for faults. I would say he’s 99.5 per cent perfect.
Q: Some players have commented that when he finishes he would be in the top two-three players who ever played the game?
A: Easy. I think he’s already there. Even if he retires tomorrow and doesn’t achieve anything more he is right there. And he’s still young. I have never seen Bradman but heard people talk about him. But I tell you what; if Bradman could bat like this man does then he was dynamite. I have seen only Sachin. Players like Sachin deserve to be preserved in cotton wool. I first saw him when he was touring England. I saw two of his innings. When you start hitting respectable fast bowlers for sixes over their heads then you are serving notice.
There are probably more quotes as well but this post has turned out a lot longer than I had planned it to be and I'm feeling tired ........
