Jrod: Sachin Tendulkar – why the fuss?
October 24th, 2008 by JRod in Australia in India, Test cricket and tagged bradman, tendulkar, the wisden cricketer, twc
Is Tendulkar the most overrated batsmen since Bradman?
I know what you are thinking, fair point Jrod, glad someone finally said it.
Scoring the most runs in Test history is impressive but it means you stuck around for a long time and could bat, I mean Boycott did it, so it can’t be that special.
It’s not that I don’t like Tendulkar – it’s just that, since the new millennium he has just been pretty good. Not great.
Definitely not God-like.
He was great in the 90s, oh how great he was, but in this millennium he was weighed down with the expectations of a nation, middle age, celebrity and chunky bats.
Statistically there is very little difference, from 89 to 99 he averaged 56, and from 2000 to now he averages 52.
But this isn’t about averages.
Watching Sachin in the 90s was like heaven – sticky sticky heaven.
In 1998 when he took Australia apart, he was like Genghis Khan, pure brutal elegance.
In 2004 he made a double hundred against Australia in which he put his cover drive away because it wasn’t working. It was like watching a dentist pull teeth, except without the cool teeth hitting-the-floor moments or lots of blood.
Every now and then old Sachin comes out, and it is glorious, but then the new one takes over and asks if you have any deductibles.
So does someone who is great in one millennium and pretty good in another deserve all the acclaim? Probably not, but if he doesn’t get it, people will have to acclaim Jacques Kallis.
As for Bradman, the Michael Hussey of his day, we all know that had he played in the 1940s more, his average would have dropped to 45.
Can you imagine watching Bradman, hitting the ball on the ground, playing it safe, and always making runs?
Boring.
Jrod is an Australian cricket blogger, his site Cricketwithballs.com won July’s Best of Blogs in TWC
Posted in Australia in India, Test cricket |
October 25th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Nineteen years. Over twohundred innings. over 12000 runs in both formsof the game. What do you mean overrating? I felt Bradman quits when he found his average has reached the highest point where it would be if not impossible, difficult to erace.
He lived all his life in that throne. No one is envious about it. I am not. Though I did not live or knew the game that far of time.
Today, If you people call Cricket a gentleman’s game, look cricket without bias, I mean not thinking this cricketer is from Asia or America but takes him as a cricketer, Sachin holds a throne in the world Cricket.
For India he served. He is serving. And may be he will serve for another few years. Break and creat several more records.
Comparing Sir, Bradman with any cricketer is stupidity. He lived in a different time, when cricket was not played like today. Everything was different. Had he played twenty matches more would he have managed this average? doubtful. He knew it even.
Sachin got going in a different atmosphere. And as he played he groomed himself, he innovated, he learned every time he went in to bat. I have very critically seen him occupying the crease atleast a fifty times. The concentration he needed was beyond expresion. The expectations were inhumane yet, he strived to satisfy himself then the crowd and the team.
The greatmany bowlers who bowled at him. If we are to test his calibre you have to go into minutest details and decide that he was just another cricketer.
Sorry, While Sir Bradman was man of that moment. His records may be shall remain unbroken for many more years, it doesnot take away the greatness of other players.
Brian Lara is a great fan of mine. I admire him in different ways. Had he been given opportunity by his playing nation, I am sure by the time he hung away his pads he would have crossed 18000 runs.
Suchin is a great player, he is the pride of India. Pride of every Indian. If he or she plays cricket or not. And Australia is not the mecca of cricket right? The English brought this game to the world and if an Indian Stays on top scoring over !2000 runs in both forms of the game. Taking wickets, Taking great catches, and yet well behaved in and outside the field what more can you ask in terms of greatness.
We love you Sachin, keep scoring runs and runs in forms of centuries and so much that no one will ever beat your record. Its my prayers for you. Yes, in this I am a bit biased.
October 25th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I wish Sachin had born in Australia….I second everything from the first comment, that too the Bradmans played against only england, only few matches, If he had played atleast 100 matches, and kept his average, then he can be considered as great. He is nothing in front of Sachin…
October 26th, 2008 at 3:28 am
They’re both overrated
( and you don’t even like Bradman, jrod!)
yes, aiswarya, you are biased. Believe it or not, there are Indians (I’ve met them!) who do not think that Tendulkar is the be-all and end-all of India.
October 26th, 2008 at 5:43 am
The only two exciting things Tendulkar did in the 00’s was get convicted of ball tampering and order the plane on standby in case maa ki got interpreted as monkey
October 26th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Oh! you got it all wrong Steve.
What is the basics of cricket?
And keep judging. Many a cricket world over had exhibited their might when they
played In different places for different countries. They have excelled too.
But it was all soon out of mind. Only when an occasion rise and some one talk abour an innings of some kind we remember them and nostalgically appreciate.
Actually there’s nothing to be appreciated or praised on Tendulker. He has reached a pedestal where he shall remain till the game last. So, its not being biased when I voiced about Tendulker. Rightly One need not give so much importance over his greatness, It is redundant. He is Great.
So, its period over this issue I believe.
Can you tell us about a player as great as Eknath Solker in The close in Catch in Position in Cricket? Greatness is always greatness.
Cricket is my weakness. Since College days. I watch every game very closely without bias. I have broken many things back home in protest of a bad decision or a bad shot.
Thanks
October 26th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I’m Indian and i do not care for Tendulkar …very much.
Stuff it Aishwarya!
October 27th, 2008 at 6:08 am
Jrod, sure, he’s not the same player that destroyed Australia in 1998 and of course, he is not as ‘viewer-friendly’ as he used to be. Statistics, taken alone can be used to prove opposing points of view, depending on how you slice and dice them. Hence, according to you, his longevity is his curse. Tendulkar’s impact, just like Bradman, is way beyond those runs he racked up. To have borne the kind of pressure he has, over such a long time and still be able to have done what he has, is an achievement that is worth celebrating.
Your line of thought suggests that a Steve Harmison, as erratic as he is would be rated above a Kallis who delivers more times than not.
Why is it so much harder to give credit where atleast some is due versus tearing down sportsmen on some pretext or the other?
October 27th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Is this a submission from a 6th grade English composition class?
October 28th, 2008 at 5:29 am
probably
October 28th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
MontyP, it’s written by a ’strayan fella, so yes.
November 5th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I’m glad your brought this up. At least you didn’t boast that Tugga Waugh and Punter Ponting were better players who have similar records. If you only go by the destroying capabilities of the batsman, then you’ll have to put the likes of Jayasuriya, Gilchrist and Richards. But then, the hall mark of a great batsman is his ability to get into positions to play attacking cricket shots. There, Sachin is unparalelled in the history of the game.
November 9th, 2008 at 12:05 am
All you Pro Sachin fellas, have you even read this article. He isn’t saying Sachin isn’t a great, he is saying that he is not beyond questioning. You guys and your over reaction just prove that having a reasonable discussion about Tendulkar on the internet is pointless. Most of you don’t even read what is said, you just see it’s not saying he is a legend and you get on your horse and ride into the river for the man. Ofcourse Sachin has faults, and no one should be pillared for saying so.
Most importantly, read the first line of the article, in that one line he is saying that Bradman too was over rated, but there are no Australians here yelling up and down with bad english that he should be tarred and feathered. Opinions are great, useless noise in defence of a batsman who is being compared to Bradman is stupid.
November 20th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I agree with Jrod’s opinion. Tendulkar has been far from great in the 2000’s. Probably Tendulkar himself would admit that in private. He is great, make no mistakes. Yet, he is a shadow of his earlier self. I loved him in the 90’s. But not anymore.
December 5th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
This is rediculous.
We are talking about a man who has given smile to millions of people for not just couple of months but 19 years.
If somebody have doubt on sachin should just consider himself in his shoes for one minute and imagine that millions of people watching him every second and every move he make.
Then he will come to know what pressure does sachin live into and yet he is carrying on with great consistancy.
Its a shame that people always want to find a mistake in his batting more than enjoying his class and charisma.
Sachin has proved himself front of the world and more than anybody else Don himself
May 19th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
why indians seems to think that because bradman love sachin that he is the best? bradman dont know fuck about this game and am sorry for my language. he may have been great in his day but that was when cricket was garbage in a sense. bradman picked a dream team and pick 7 players who played with him in which 6 were australians what kind of cricket sense a jackass like him could exiibit?
August 6th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I admire Sachin Tendulkar and I feel great displeasure in reading articles like these. There is a difference in visual fireworks and cricket, Sir. The reason *you* liked Sachin was not his mastery over cricket but his attacking stroke play. So you never admired him. You never knew your cricket.
My son is shown videos of Adam, Waugh, Shewag and Pieterson among others. But his coach tells him, that you should dream to play like Sachin Tendulkar.
And that echoes my sentiments.
After ‘00 he changed his style of cricket and he excelled in this new style. That is his genious, Sir.
And if Indians have problem accepting this, send him to UK. We’ll cherish him.
August 7th, 2009 at 4:32 am
I think it’s little unfair on Sachin just because he doesn’y play in his old style. When you consider he has been hanging around for 19 years, you realise it’s a hell lot of time. Long enough to evolve. He does not possess a 19-year-old body and the 575-plus international matches have taken their toll on him. Who can defy ageing? It’s a natural process and to his credit, Tendulkar managed to evolve and stay relevant.
If it’s the adulation that annoys you, well, we Indians tend to overdo it.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Tall poppy syndrome again - oh dear what a bore. Only the terminally prejudiced or blinkered could argue that Sachin is anything other than one of the top 3 batsmen of all time. I wonder how the Don would have coped with One Day cricket. And with the unrelenting international schedules of today. Sachin has coped with it all better than anybody. He is also an extremely pleasant man. I’ve met him a number of times and he is polite, courteous and the absolute opposite of a pampered cricket celeb. Great cricketer, lovely man.
August 7th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Som, I like Tendulkar. I am not a big fan of the Tendulkar militia. I did this piece to see how many people abused me for saying Bradman was overrated, compared to how many people got upset over saying the same over Tendulkar.
Paddy, Terminally prejudiced and blinkered people, or people with a different opinion to you. I did say he was the most overrated batsman since Bradman, which tells you where I rate him, and it isn’t tall poppy bashing to take a look at someone’s career in context.