In the year 1998 he was judged second none to other than Sir Don Bradman by every Australian after those 2 back to back hundreds at Sharjah. In next few years almost every Cricket expert believed that Sachin is next to Sir Don, but in last 1 and half year, former cricketers started saying that he has passed Sir Don and he is above Sir Don. Sir Richard Hadlee rated Tendulkar even higher than Don Bradman, considering Indian batsman’s staggering success in both the long and short formats of the game. And when Sachin became the 1st man on earth to score double hundred against South Africa early this year, the same captain who asked his bowler to bowl negative line to frustrate Sachin Tendulkar, rated Sachin above Bradman.
Unarguably the most worshiped cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar has been rated above every other batsmen/cricketer. Though that doesn’t mean Sir Don was less great but what Sachin had been doing since 1989, no one else has been able to do in their short/long career. This is something Indian fans had felt quite a long time back.
Re: .............
by vijay on Jan 07, 2011 01:00 AM
1.Pressure
Tendulkar plays under huge pressure. 1 billion people expecting you to perform in each and every match. To perform consistently well for 20 years as per expectations is just Brilliant! Bradman never had such pressure in his whole career apart from bodyline series and in his last innings against England. And just look what pressure can do. His average which was usually over 100 in maximum series came down to just 52 in bodyline series. When the whole world was watching him to score just 4 runs in his last innings he couldn’t even score those runs. This is what pressure is all about. And Tendulkar goes through such pressure in each every match. Even the matches against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. With one failure public, media, everyone in India starts criticizing the Greats of Indian cricket. Still he is performing consistently. Isn’t this amazing?
2.Fitness
Bradman played 52 tests in 20 years whereas Sachin has played 162 tests in 20 years. In Bradman’s time not many matches were played. Players easily got 7-8 days of gap in between 2 tests of a series. In one year only 4-5 tests were played. There were no one dayers. Nowadays there are too much of ODI’s. Once a series starts, you don’t get any chance to take rest. 5 ODI get completed in 12-13 days and as soon as ODI series is over, the Test series starts and between tests only 3 days of gap. No rest for players & they have to
Re: .............
by vijay on Jan 07, 2011 01:00 AM
3. Position of Batting
Bradman usually came at no.3 or no.4 and mostly when the score were 176 for 1 or 217 for 2. No pressure!! Just play the natural game and dominated the bowling. Unlike Sachin, Bradman had some really good openers from the start of his career. Woodfull & Ponsford had career average of 45 , Sachin usually came at no.4 & mostly when India lost both the openers with the scoreboard reading something 20-2!!! And then this best batsman of all time rescues the team. In Onedayers Sachin opens and starts blazing guns from the beginning and then steady in middle overs and again all guns blazing in last 10 overs. And at 37, if you are still able to do after playing 20 years, then it’s surely a remarkable thing !
4. Opposition
Bradman played mostly against England and he got used to that bowling thats why scored over 5000 runs with an average of around 92. One series against each minnows [India, SouthAfrica and WestIndies were new in cricket that time] and scored heavily against them. Never played in Indian Sub-Continent against Indian spinners. Playing at Indian pitches is never been easy for any batsman.Nowdays Australian thinks Ricky Ponting is the best batsman after Bradman from Australia. Look his record in India! Sachin’s average in Australia is above 54. A batsman is perfect when he scores against really class bowlings. Excluding Larwood Bradman never played any quality bowlers. (and the other 2 we
Re: .............
by V on Jan 07, 2011 01:29 AM
dear where is the match winning knocks, i think u forgot to mention..pls give some highlights of his mtch winning knocks, especially in the finals of any tournament.. Being an all rounder Kallis has scored 40 centuries but they don't make hype of him...
Re: .............
by vijay on Jan 07, 2011 01:01 AM
5. Technology
In Bradman’s time it was not easy to pick one’s weakness just standing at slips or point. That’s why Jardine had to use the theory of bowling on chest height to stop Bradman from scoring runs. Its true that then there was no such equipment like helmet, arm-guards to save you but then apart from Bodyline series there were no such instance where batsmen had to really save themselves from truly fast bowling. Interestingly, though Sachin plays few shots in the air when he tries to play drives on rising delivery (thanks to Today’s technology) and many captain tried to get his wicket at the early part of his innings, Nasser Hussain tried something different to get his wicket, by not letting him to score freely against his bowlers (though Sachin still had the second best strike rate after Sehwag in that series for India).
True that the average of 99.94 is considered to be top achievement in any sport statistically, however Cricket is not just a game of averages. There are many other things which should be consider like the standard of playing cricket. Nowadays so much of technology is used so that you can take out weak areas of a particular player. The standard of fielding is just too good. The Media hype and pressure is so much. Lots of cricket played, scoring in every part of the world. Sachin not only plays role in batting but also in many other areas like Sachin can spin the bowl like Shane Warne, Sachi
Re: Re: .............
by vijay on Jan 07, 2011 01:02 AM
Sachin not only plays role in batting but also in many other areas like Sachin can spin the bowl like Shane Warne, Sachin is never afraid of taking responsibilities. Tendulkar took the ball from Azhar and Kapil in Hero Cup Semifinal and bowled the last over and did not let South Africa to score 6 runs to win the match. Just imagine if those runs were scored. Public and Media of India would have definitely gone after the little master. And if that’s not enough he is partially playing a role of mentor/coach of Indian Cricket Team.
Finally, its unfair to compare the two batsmen of different era but then it would also be unfair to call Sir Don as the greatest batsmen of “all times”.
One of the reasons is, India did not play any practice matches before playing the first test match. Suresh Raina, does not have the technical skills to play at that level, but was preferred over Pujara and others why?
All these years no other captain had aimed one single batsman to stop from scoring runs, except Hussain and Jardine. In 1996 when Bradman told a Sports channel “I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this bloke is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two: his compactness, technique, stroke production, it all seemed to gel, he is a little bonzer” (it was still an early phase of Sachin’s career), many didn’t agree with it and former Australian Captain and legendary commentator, Richie Benaud said in one of the interview in 1998 that he was not convinced with Sir Don’s statement but when he saw Sachin played like that in Sharjah, he too started believing in it. The statement came when Sachin was touring England with Indian team and almost everyone around the world predicted that Sachin will be the 1st man in test cricket to score 50 centuries and 15000 runs (he’s just 1500 runs and 3 centuries behind those predictions). Apart from playing in similar fashion, both Sachin and Sir Don batted at lower down in their 1st test match (Sachin at 6 and Bradman at 7), both couldn’t score above 20 runs in their 1st test match innings. When it comes to test of raw courage, Bradman’s ave
In the year 1932 English captain Douglas Jardine, invented a method to stop the greatest batsman of all time, Sir Donald Bradman by using a bowling method called Bodyline. Something which really worked for Jardine and his boys resulting to England winning the Ashes and Sir Don failing (as per his standard). Exactly after 60 years in 2002, another English captain Nasser Hussain, tried his own formula to stop the greatest batsman of modern times Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, by bowling outside the leg stump (a negative theory). Interestingly both the Captains were born in India, Jardine in Mumbai and Hussain in Chennai. Both of them were successful in their mission as Bradman couldn’t score even 400 runs (at the strike rate of 75) in the series as compared to 974 runs in previous Ashes. England regained the Ashes whereas Hussain too was partially successful by not letting Tendulkar to score with his regular strike rate however he still managed to score 307 runs with an average of 76 and Hussain’s tactics did frustrate Sachin. It was 1st time in his career that he got stumped in Test Cricket. Both Sachin and Sir Don, had considerable capability looking at their different methods of run scoring and the speed with which they score.
Sachin Tendulkar, and I hate most of the so-called legends of Indian cricket barring VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble. I have tremendous respect for those two guys, because they have on numerous ocassions taken 'TEAM' India to victory from seemingly hopeless situations. Laxman especially is very much underrated. The real test of a player's character is when he is under pressure. I hate Sachin because, even after scoring so many runs, he is not even near Laxman or Kumble in ealing with pressure.
Re: I don't like
by Saheb Nagori on Jan 07, 2011 01:05 AM
Just accept Tendulkar to make records and Laxman to win matches.These are two different qualities and both are respectable.
Re: Re: I don't like
by Against Pseudos on Jan 07, 2011 05:27 AM
Nagori:
Sorry... according to Manu Zach, even Laxman wants to make records of taking team India to win... when he sees win is not possible, he too does not deal with any pressure... as at Centurion...
Re: Re: I don't like
by super hero on Jan 07, 2011 03:32 AM
@Manu Zach: Go read about or see Sachins first test century and get to know how he saved the match.
India shud have gone for the kill...this is not the attitude of the number one test team in the world ... we may be numer one now..but will surely and quite early loose this position if we carry this attitude
The Indian public would have accepted in a 2-1 loss, if India wud have tried to win the game and in the process wud have lost..but the current result...nananana..!!!
I am requesting to K Srikkanth and national selection committee, please allow above Indian cricketer for Cricket World Cup 2011. There is Possible Chance for India qualify for Cricket World Cup 2011.
I am requesting to K Srikkanth and national selection committee, please allow above Indian cricketer for Cricket World Cup 2011. There is Possible Chance for India qualify for Cricket World Cup 2011.
Most media reports are hailing this result as a positive one for the Indian team. We have been able to keep the series drawn in SA, that too against the most fearsome fast bowling combination of recent times, we have been able to keep our no 1 position intact, Sachin's 2 centuries etc. But are not we forgetting something important - this was a golden chance for India to win a test series in SA, and we have badly messed it up. On the 4th day of the 3rd test, India was in a position to score an outright victory but a combination of ultra defensive captaincy and appalling bowling squandared that opportunity. Ishant lost his radar on a crunch situation and heaven knows what happened to Zaheer (did he think he is bowling to school kids who could not face speeds more than 120 kph?).
Friends, we may never get another chance to win a test series vistory in SA in the foreseeable future. After all, SA has done this India, but we are yet to do so (yet again). Next time when India tours SA for a test series, the batting core of this team would be gone and there is a very slim chance that their replacements would accomplish as high as the "fab 4" did. Considering the future perspective, I think India has surrendered a golden opportunity to score the maiden series win in SA.
If we still hail the drawn series as a positive result, we will be only fooling ourselves.
Re: Don't fool youselves
by super hero on Jan 07, 2011 12:46 AM
I dont agree with ur views. This is not our last chance.This is our first chance. If you see the ranking table, you can see all rich boards on the top half half and all poor boards in the bottom half except for SL. Do you think its a coincidence? India will be a good team for years to come.
It really reminds of the test matches played in the '70s where 150-180 runs in a day was a norm. Forget 340, surviving full day on the crubling 5th day pitch is remarkable.
Just for records, no team in the world have scored 340 runs on the fifth day of a test match. This is not a limited overs cricket, where field restriction and number of overs per bowler is limited.
Understand and respect test cricket. It is different.
