The worlds 29th best batsman? Last updated 8 hours ago By Ben Carter BBC News When Sachin Tendulkar walks out to the crease for the final time in Mumbai, he will bring to an end a career that has earned him god-like status in India. But how good are his batting stats compared with other top players? If we looked purely at cumulative runs scored then this article would be very short. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar had amassed 15,847 Test runs before the start of his final Test on Thursday, which is about 2,500 more runs than any other cricketer. Lets compare him to four other players - whose names would surely be mentioned in any discussion about the greatest batsman of the last 20 years - Australias Ricky Ponting, South Africas Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara of the West Indies and Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka. Left to right: Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara Tendulkars 15,847 Test runs compare with 13,378 for Ponting during his Test career, while Lara made just short of 12,000. Kallis and Sangakkara, who are still playing, have 13,140 and 10,486 respectively. But while Tendulkar dominates in terms of overall runs hes also way ahead in terms of number of games played. His final Test is his 200th. Thats 32 more than Ponting played and 68 more than Lara. Kallis is 36 games behind and Sangakkara a full 83. So perhaps a fairer way of comparing cricketers is by looking at averages? This brings cricketers who played decades ago into the picture. In previous generations, cricketers played far fewer matches, so no-one whose career ended before 1950 features among the top 35 all-time aggregate Test run scorers. But when you look at averages, the man who reigns supreme is Australian Donald Bradman, who played for 20 years between 1928 and 1948. Incredibly, Bradman ended his career with his average at 99.94. No other batsman gets close. Looking at those who have played a minimum of 20 Test matches, Tendulkar ranks 15th on the all-time list with an average of 53.71. That is marginally ahead of Ponting and Lara (who rank 24th and 18th) but marginally behind Kallis at 14th, with an average of 55.44 and Sangakkara at 10th on 56.98. But the astonishing thing about Tendulkar is his level of consistency - he has averaged more than 50 for the last 18 years. Like many great batsmen, his average has fallen in the twilight of his career, however. So might an even better way of measuring a players greatness be to examine how he performed at the peak of his powers? The International Cricket Council (ICC) player ratings allow you to do this by valuing each players performance based on various circumstances in a match, such as the level of run-scoring and the standard of the opposition. The ICC gave Tendulkar his highest rating in 2002, when he was awarded a score of 898 after a Test against Zimbabwe. But that is only the 29th highest of all time. Bradman, again, leads the way with 961 awarded to him after a Test against India in the dying days of his career, in 1948. And Ponting, Sangakkara, Kallis and Lara all achieved ratings above 900 - a level which the ICC says is an indication of quite exceptional, world-class form. Australian cricketer Donald Bradman in 1930 The ratings imply that at his peak Tendulkar was not as impressive as the others. But he did top the ICC batting rating table on five occasions during his career, and a 16-year gap between his first (1994) and last (2010) appearance at the top of the rankings again shows how consistently he performed at a high level over a prolonged period. But there are other yardsticks too, by which to measure a batsmans career. Many cricket purists prefer to disregard stats, and focus on the skill, style and strength of will a player displayed during a great innings. Patrick Ferriday and Dave Wilson, authors of Masterly Batting: 100 Great Test Centuries, created their list of favourites based on a number of different criteria - runs, conditions, bowling strength, percentage of team total, chances, speed, series impact, match impact, and what they refer to as intangibles. Tendulkar makes their list just once, in 100th place, for the 155 not out he scored against Australia in Chennai in 1998. This seems a meagre return for a man who has hit 51 centuries in his Test career. Brian Lara, meanwhile, has five centuries in Ferriday and Wilsons top 100, including three in their top 20. Tendulkars reputation is based on his longevity, consistency and the fact he has played his whole career under the pressure of being an Indian icon, says Ferriday. But I dont think he played the stellar innings that Brian Lara played. Most of Laras centuries were innings that either saved his team from losing or enabled them to win. Tendulkars were often hidden amongst those of his team-mates. Yet another method of measuring a players value was introduced in 2010. The Impact Index measures every player relative to the other performances in the same match. Its creator, Jaideep Varma, pays tribute to the one man he feels has made a pre-eminent contribution to the Indian side over the last 20 years, but its not Tendulkar… its Rahul Dravid. Dravid has more series-defining performances (eight) than Tendulkar does (six) in fewer matches, says Varma. The great players tend to take the lead, they tend to dominate, which Tendulkar has not done in the big matches right throughout his career. Rahul Dravid is a superior Test player to him in terms of changing the cricketing history of his country. But there is one big intangible that has made Tendulkars career different from almost any other players - the weight of expectation. Tendulkar has batted for 24 years under the gaze of a billion devoted Indians. It could be argued that the fact hes survived and revelled under these conditions is a better indication of greatness than any number could ever be. Outside grounds, people wait until he goes in before paying to enter, Shane Warne once said. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer. This is cricket as Sachin has known it since the age of 16. He grew up under an incredible weight of expectation and never buckled once. As he walks out to bat for the last time his home ground in Mumbai, in the next few days, the Little Master will be hailed by thousands of portraits held aloft and banners protesting love. But perhaps none of them will sum up Indias attitude better than the sign seen at the 2011 cricket World Cup, when Tendulkar scored 120 against England at Bengaluru. Commit your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed, because even the Lord is watching. Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook BBC © 2013
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 18:00:58 +0000
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