Tendulkar is the Batting God… Against Everyone- Anon Payn
For the amount of adulation and respect great sportsmen, indeed great men in general, are reported to receive, it is fairly amusing to watch the current crop of human race trying to bring down everything great about the modern world. Maybe it is the global warming, or the ever increasing carbon foot print, but whatever it may be, the general consensus is that successful are to be loathed and their image be torn down as quickly and swiftly as possible. Or is it the really a global consensus, or just a bunch of disgruntled "jouralists" trying to earn a name for themselves? In Britain, a critique of Manchester United, easily the most successful club in the region over the past two decades is never too often heard. And the man who took them up there, is probably the most hated in the press. If someone has been bad to another, it is human nature to avoid, or stop talking, to the evil-doer. Yet Ferguson is villified for not wanting to interact with big media houses such as BBC and more recently Sky Sports. Why?" He has a duty towards his fans," one hears them screaming. The screamers though, aren't even close to being fans. Alas, they are the vultures who love seeing someone struggle in agony than enjoy in victory. They are in short failures in life. Ferguson doesn't need huge media houses to send his message to half the planet, which is indeed the size of the followers of Man United. He has at his "office" seventy five thousand visitors every match day, and a few million every month flog to United's official website for the man's thoughts. For a person so sought after, wanting to see two media houses out of the plathora that exist is hardly an embargo upon the fans. If there can be one parallel in sport to Ferguson, it could only be someone who is equally revered by a billion or so, yet hated by the few who either never made it (quo Moin Khan) or simply never tried. Yes, he is easily the most successful cricketer in the history of the sport. He may not have been a part of an all conquering team, but he has certainly enjoyed every form of success barring a World Cup. He has been the name that has brought wealth to cricket. The Indian Premier League is nothing but a footnote on the books where entire columns of debit have been entered in front ofhis name. The only cricketer to be so globally revered, acknowledged, and indeed appreciated, as the only of his sport who is allowed to mix it in the big money league of footballers, tennis stars and other global ambassadors to sport, it could hardly be a case of mistaken identity? Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne arguably hailed from far superior sporting countries, already home to big sporting names in tennis and football. Brian Lara, with his proximity to the United States and penchant for doing audaciously well against England, and with the added bonus of being a natural english speaker, had far greater oppurtunities to establish himself as the face of his sport in the global arena. Yet it was Sachin Tendulkar that the globe decided should bear the responsibility of bearing cricket's baton. When Nike and Adidas fight it out over him in courts, you know what is at stake. So are all these people fools? If Tendulkar was not the best at what he does, he wouldn't appeal to them.Maria Sharapova can sign a 45 million euro deal and still languish at 14th place on the ATP rankings, but then Tendulkar is harldy blessed with supermodel looks. David Beckham, often ostricised for his public image as a chocolate boy, and not necessarily a good footballer, is today reiterrating why he was once the first choice right midfield pick for Sir Alex. Mixing it with the likes of Ronaldinho, Pato and Pirlo, Beckham's image is getting repainted from poster boy, to comeback man, finally, the world is talking about Beckham because of his football, and not his Armani underwear. Alas, we have deviated from the point. How does it matter that Tendulkar has never been spoken about for anything apart from his exploits on the field? Even while Lara, Ponting and Warne embroiled themselves in controversy after controversy, with not even half of Tendulkar's media glare on them, Tendulkar remained saint like. That in itself sets him apart from his peers. Of course, these things matter little when the task at hand is to degrade his status as a "batting god". The tactless "writers" need to fall at the feet of Cricinfo's Statsguru, and criticise Tendulkar for scoring against Bangladesh. Imagine Wayne Rooney getting slagged for scoring against Angola! While he would be justly villified for failing to score against a weak footballing nation, you would never hear a criticism of him for actually doing his job. If instead the afore mentioned genius had looked at more conclusive statistics, Tendulkar's superiority would be crystal clear. So let this writer do the needful and recap a story that for most is etched in memory. • Australia That Tendulkar has treated Australians, the way Australians treat the rest of the cricketing world is enough to put directly at the head of all batsmen of his era. Lara averages a dissapointing 42 in Australia is no coincidence. It's a fate that has befallen almost all batsmen to travel down under. Except one of course. In 58 innings against Australia, Lara has managed a very impressive 2856 runs, the most by any batsman since Tendulkar's debut in ‘89. But Tendulkar out does him with 2748 in just three fewer innings. Yet it is when the real test, playing in their most favoured home conditions, begins, that Tendulkar really turns it on. Tendulkar's 1522 runs, easily the most by any batsman on Australian turf in the past two decades, not only out-do Lara's 1469, they have taken the Master five fewer innings to achieve. If there is any greater test of batsmanship than doing well against the best at their strongest, this writer has yet to witness it. Tendulkar has not only done well, he has literally had Australia on it's knees. Averaging 58.53, when the next highest run getter, Lara, has averaged 41.97, a whooping 16.56 runs fewerer per inning, it's safe to say there are no exaggerations when proclaiming Tendulkar as a batting marvel, and the best Test batsman of his generation. • Best of the Rest So if a batsman does so well against the best, it is assumed that the worst wouldn't be able to do much to stop him. Therefore, it shouldn't be surprising that Tendulkar has piled on runs against the so called minnows. While Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have languished at the bottom of the Test ranking system, it is safe to say that West Indies and New Zealand have hardly fared better. West Indies bowling never really recovered it's sheen of the ‘80's, and New Zealand, though effective on their own turf, have never really had bowlers capable of picking twenty wickets in a Test match in the past two decades. If not for leaders like Stephen Flemmins and gritty and disciplined bowlers like Vettori, New Zealand cricket may well have been below Bangladesh on the ICC table. Credit to Lara for fighting to keep West Indies a respectable team, but when it came to batting against the above four, it has been a cake walk, not only for Tendulkar, but also for every other batsman to have played them. So it makes sense to reason, that if all runs scored against these teams are to be omitted we will get a clear picture of who the real quality batsman are. As expected Lara, Tedulkar and Ponting cover the top three, and while Lara runs away as the leader of the pack, it is upon closer observation that Tendulkar's real value comes to the fore. At home Lara and Ponting have been tigers, pouncing on opposition faster than you can say "hundred", but away from home, neither average 50. Tendulkar, scoring 4907, just 201 fewer than Lara in five fewer innings, has more hundreds, and runs per innings than either Lara or Ponting. It really says something about the calibre of the cricketer. It's not surprising that Ponting and Lara struggle so much away from home. In Test cricket, where conditions vary so vastly from country to country, batting well away from home isn't an easy task. In fact, for most, an average of over 40 is indeed a very impressive return from tours away from home. But Tendulkar is not "most batsmen". Tendulkar is Tendulkar, and he sets his own benchmark. An average of 53.33, five more than Lara and an astounding 12 more than Ponting, is indicative of the class and calibre of a cricketer who has absolutely no qualms about batting at London or Sydney or Colombo. Tendulkar treats each with equal disdain. Because Tendulkar is the best. So Tendulkar thwarts Lara and Ponting irrespective of the opposition. Where does the debate lie next time there are calls for Tendulkar's head? One can only imagine.
PS: This article is in response to what can only be termed frankly as a pretty stupid article posted here (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/335542-tendulkar-is-the-batting-god-against-bangladesh)
Don't get me wrong. But what I meant to say is that, when we are taking other Sports in consideration, in context of Sachin's omnipotence in Cricket; we should site the best in those Sports.
When you consider MotoGP, you would look upto Valentino Rossi, or atleast Giacomo Agostini or Mick Doohan; but instead if you say about a certain Alex Barros, people will say 'Alex who' ??? (even if he was a good rider). Likewise, till the day people will play Football (soccer for the yanks), everybody will know the names of Pele, Maradona, Eusebio, Beckenbauer, Platini, Zidane, Ronaldo (original), Kaka etc. but I can bet that after 10 years when this David Beckam will lose his hairs, people (non-English) will say 'who remembers that Joker' ? When you would speak about Chess, you would name Bobby Fischer or Gary Kasparov or even Vishwanathan Anand atleaat, not some Tom, Dick & Harry. When you would mention about Tennis, you would say about Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Steffi Graff, Martina Navratilova or Bjorn Borg or even John Mcenroe, but if you say about a certain Michael Chang (good player) or a powerful Marat Safin (another good player), people will scratch their head for a while. People like Mohammad Ali, Jesse Owens, Florence Griffith Joyner, Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps will live forever in the memory of the fans of their Sports & Sports lovers around the world. Basically it is about greatest or among the greatest in the game.
Similarly, Cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Gary Sobers, Viv Richards, Shane Warne, Muralitharan, Wasim Akram, West Indian Pace Quartet (Holding, Roberts, Garner, Croft & later Marshall), Ambrose, Walsh, Adam Gilchrist, they come once in a life time. Just see for yourself how many people remember Allan Border for the volumes of Runs he scored (although he was a great Batsman himself). I can bet upon this fact that good Players will reach upto a certain level, but great players' level are a bit above. Ricky Ponting has scored a lot (against mediocre oppositions), but he does not belong to the class where Sachin or Lara belongs. So, it is futile to keep him in comparison.
Although I would like to mention a point, when it comes to Cricket, there is only one God - Sachin ..... Similarly when it comes to Football, you could have quoted someone Godlike, namely Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Garrincha, Eusebio, Beckenbauer or even Ronaldo (original), Ronaldinho, Zidane or Messi or someone of similar stature. If you wanted to mention ManU, you could have quoted of George Best or Bobby Charlton. If you wanted to mention about Coaches, there were never any better than Sir Beckenbauer himself. If you wanted to focus upon EPL, Arsene Wenger prepared an all-conquering Arsenal side with only 2 Star player that remained undefeated a complete season. Unfortunately I don't find Mr. Ferguson anywhere near to the status, earned by any of the above mentioned players or Coaches. With all due respect it seems to me Mr. Ferguson is just a bit over-hyped just like David Beckam himself. (After all if one follows Football, he will find countless better free-kick takers around the world).
Again a comparison between Lara & Tendulkar are valid ones, as both of them carried a 'comparatively weak' team on their able shoulders multiple times. However, in case of Ricky Ponting, he largely got benefitted from the conquests of Matthew Hayden & Justine Langer in Tests & Matthew Hayden & Adam Gilchrist in ODIs. Just check for yourself the form of Ponting before & after the tenure of these Australian reliable Openers. Moreover Ponting never had to carry his team alone (he has done it rarely in inconsequential circumstances). Also, if you consider the best few bowlers in the past few years & tally Ponting's scores against them you will find some interesting results. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shane Warne, Muttaiah Muralitharan, Allan Donald, Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose, Shoaib Akhtar, Glenn Mcgrath, Brett Lee - Ponting either didn't score against them, or didn't face them at their peak, or had them in his own side & never faced them at all. So, unlike Sachin or Lara, Ponting never scored against any quality opposition whatsoever. So, although statistically he is quite a strong competitor, but if you take the finer aspects in considerations, Ponting simply stands no chance, infront of either Sachin or Lara.
Other than that, thanks Anon for such a nice Article.
Way to go .....