The Dilemma Facing Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar faces a dilemma that most of us do not have to face. As a batsman he has dominated the sport of cricket during the past two decades. Statistically he has set records both in test cricket and the one day version that are unlikely to be broken. You have to play at a very high level for a very long period of time to get anywhere close to the records that he has set.
Statistically Sachin is the greatest batsman to ever play the game. Many players from India who have played with him and many others from other teams who were at the receiving end of his stroke play consider him to be the greatest to have ever played the game. But like in any sports statistics only tell part of the story.
Sachin unfortunately had a slow start to his international career. During the early part of his career the most dominating player in the game was Allan Border. He was not only a great player but a very good captain and started the Australian domination of the game which continues even today.
Sachin has put up great numbers in the second half of his career. But unfortunately for him he has had to share the limelight with another great player who is also from Australia. Ricky Ponting has not only proved that he is a great player but has also established himself as one of the most successful captains to play this game. Even more important is the fact that Ricky has outplayed Sachin in major tournaments and in critical matches (Ricky Ponting has played in three world cup winning teams and has played some mesmerizing knocks in clutch situations).
The other day I watched Sachin Tendulkar completely take apart the South African bowlers and score the first double century in a one day international match. It will do down as one of the most memorable innings in the one day format. As I was watching the game I was asking myself the question whether this knock was the best ever by an Indian in a one day game?
I have to say no. Kapil Dev’s knock of 175 runs off 138 balls in the 1983 World Cup in a must win game against Zimbabwe will remain as the greatest knock by an Indian player in a one-day international. This innings was amazing considering that India was 17/5 at one point in the match. This is even more impressive considering that Kapil was the captain of the team and the team eventually went on to win the only World Cup India has ever won. The image of Kapil Dev holding the trophy at Lords will forever be etched in our memories. It is the crowning moment of Indian cricket.
Does Tendulkar have a similar moment? I am afraid not. He has had a few opportunities (World Cup Finals in 2003 comes to mind) but has not seized the moment. But all is not lost. The next world cup is just around the corner and we will all be rooting form him and the Indian team to take us to the promised land once again.
Related posts:
- All Those Meaningless Runs Scored By Tendulkar & Company
- Sir Donald Bradman is the Greatest Batsman?
- Are These Empty Praises?
- Are Tendulkar & Ganguly Givers or Takers?
- Award Winners Are Not Champions
Category: Sports & Entertainment
Sachin as an individual is been compared to another team. Only if all the player in Indian Team contributed well, then it would have been a different ball game. There are many matches where It was just sachin who would have scored runs and rest of the players not contributing through their bats or balls.
Sachin first double century is the moment which would have bought tears on many Indian’s.
Vijay
http://www.keepwrite.com
Welcome Vijay,
It is very difficult to separate the player from the team. But great players in all sports “will” their team to victories when it matters the most. Most people who follow cricket for the past thirty years would agree that Sachin played with much more established players than a player like Gavasker ever did.
I think Sachin is lucky!…he has been treated like God and given as many chances as he wanted…that luxury is not awarded to the other greats. He is good but he is old and needs to retire. Nice write up, I must say.
Welcome and thank you Nalini,
You are correct.
Many of his records are due to the fact that he has played cricket for a very long time. He started playing international cricket very early (which is not very common in India). He has also played for the team when he was clearly out of form (early on Ponting was dropped a few times from the Australian team due to bad performance).
He is still a great player. But not the greatest.