There has been many opportunites this year alone to pay tribute to the legend who is Sachin Tendulkar and rather disgracefully, so far I haven’t got round to doing it.
Take your pick from these achievements in the last 8 months alone.
In February he scored the first ever double hundred in 50 overs cricket. He didn’t do it slogging the Zimbabwe or Netherland’s attack around the park either, it was against a full strength South African attack.
The most amazing thing about this particular innings for me is the fact that he only hit 3 sixes out of his 147 balls faced, proving the old adage that you can’t be out caught if you keep the ball on the deck.
More recently he has just been named the ICC Cricketer of the Year, scoring a mere 1064 runs at an average of 81.84 during the qualifying period. He was also named in both the test team of the year and the ODI one too.
In this current match he has become the first batsman to pass 14,000 test runs, has just chalked up his 49th test century and stands on the brink of scoring his 50th when play resumes in a few hours.
As the top run scorer in test cricket, Tendulkar is nearly 2000 runs ahead of his closest rival Ricky Ponting, he also has 10 more centuries than the Aussie captain.
Tendulkar’s achievements are just magnificent, he is a credit to the game of cricket. You never see him in the headlines for the wrong reasons and he conducts himself in a manner that matches his world class batting.
He is a true genius who should be enjoyed and cherished for the remainder of his career as we will probably never see his type again.
I used to wonder who was the better player, Brian Lara or Tendulkar? Sachin’s stats are better, but Lara played in – and carried – a crap team for the majority of his career. For these reasons I find it hard to judge, but Sachin’s stats are just something else.
These records look like they will stand for a hell of a long time, if not forever. They are similar to Bradman’s 99.94 average, in that they look like they may well never be surpassed.
There isn’t really too much more for Tendulkar left to achieve, a 50 over world cup is one thing I suppose.
Or how about a triple test century? Wouldn’t that be something to see on day 4 and against the Aussies too!
Brian Carpenter
I think the most remarkable thing about Tendulkar is the fact that he’s maintained his hunger for so long. Most players who have started as young as he did have faded out by the age of 32 or 33, but he’s still going strong at 37. Indeed stronger than he was a few years ago, when it looked as though he was fading a little, but it was just an illusion caused by a few injuries and bad decisons.
It’s too late to go into it in detail – perhaps one for a future article – but I always was and will reamain a Lara man. But this is not to say I think Lara was a better player. Just a bit more inspirational and better to watch. In terms of sheer run-getting and longevity, I can’t see a lot wrong with the suggestion (made by some good judges) that Tendulkar is the best since Bradman.
Cricket Betting Blog
Hi Brian,
Yes, it is a long debated issue. I can’t make my mind up about it either.
I did love watching Lara bat in his prime. I think he was a more exciting batsman to watch, some of those innings against Australia around 10 years ago, when he practically carried the team were just exceptional.
Compare that to Sachin’s record, which is out of this world and who do you pick?
I think Lara was more entertaining, but how can you pick a winner between the two?