Can We Declare Sachin the Best Batsman Ever and Place Him in Higher Esteem than Don Bradman?
We can certainly consider it…
“Better than Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting, the other two great players of my era. Better than Sir Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border. And I would even say better than Sir Don Bradman himself.”
Last summer, like many other cricket lovers before me, I wrote an article naming who in my opinion were the top 20 batsman of all time (see greatest batsman of all time positions 11-20 and the greatest batsmen of all time positions 10-1 here). As an amateur historian, I combined the knowledge gained from 30 years as a cricket follower, plus research encompassing both primary and secondary sources before arriving at my choice. I added several caveats explaining that it is extremely difficult to compare batsmen from different eras and that the game had changed and evolved throughout its wonderful history. I also based my choices primarily on test cricket given that the first ODI was in 1971 and that tests always have been the best barometer of a batsman’s true quality.
Bradman came top of my list with Tendulkar 11th, which naturally provoked a lot of criticism and ire from those that read it both in and outside India; especially as I had ranked both Ponting and Lara higher than the Little Master. Whilst I believe I was right in most of the choices within my top 20, I believe I may have erred somewhat in placing Tendulkar outside the top 10. Let me explain…
However, this post is not about revising my previous choice, but a contrary one that suggests that comparing the two is perhaps unnecessary. Is it not better to merely argue that as Bradman was the greatest in his era, Sachin is the greatest in his? 93 international centuries spread over a 20 year career suggests he is and I belatedly concur that he shades Ponting and Lara for this accolade.
Comparisons with Bradman are difficult. Bradman played on sticky dogs but had more latitude with the LBW laws prior to 1934 and only faced one other team (England, against whom The Don still averaged 89.78) that was really competitive against Australia. But at the same time, Bradman played at the same time as a number of other all-time batting greats like Hobbs, Hammond, Sutcliffe, Headley, Ponsford and McCabe and averaged at least 40 runs more than any of them. Like Sachin, every time he went to the crease he had the additional pressure of a nation’s expectations sitting on his shoulder, albeit far less than the billion souls perched along Tendulkar’s collarbone.
Maybe it is simply better to celebrate the many similarities between the two. Both have faced down and bettered the best bowlers of their time, whether it be pace (Ambrose, Wasim and McGrath versus Larwood and Bedser) or spin (Warne and Murali against Verity). Furthermore, both have achieved milestones in the game that will never be equalled. No other batsman will ever get close to Bradman’s immortal 99.94, but at the same time no other batsman is likely to score 100 international hundreds, which the Indian Master will probably achieve in the next 18 months; maybe fittingly in the 2011 World Cup Final?
I’ve come to the conclusion that debates as to who is the greater between Bradman and Tendulkar are irrelevant and basically a waste of time. It is time for cricket followers to just celebrate that two such legends have played this wonderful game of ours. A place on the Mount Olympus cricket field is there for both of them. Bradman believed that Tendulkar reminded him of himself and that is maybe a good place to leave this particular argument.
please
leave this poor soul
now all for this 20 years the media and cricket world critic-es him or appreciate him
although he takes every talking point with calm probably the most non controversial player yet a sublime beauty of batting genius in him srt stand s for sachin ramesh tendulkar name speaks volumes the most fines to play the game ever what ever the issue is in against or favor for him
the point is he is the most talk about studied player the game can see oooooooooohhhhh!!!!! after 20 years of tiering cricket such a kind of an ining maestro!god bless you more.
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dude,still SACHIN is a class above the rest including Don.we donot need your list and your opinion for that.
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i think sachin is the best batsman in the world.i cant compare with the others.look at the technique only of the god.
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in the past time the way of playing was different.if u will compare at the present time then u will understand about the god.every cricketer talks about the tendulkar .this proves that he is tgg real hero.
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Sir Don Bradman is a legend of course, but u cant deny the fact that Sachin has his own class. Not to 4get that sir Don invited Sachin on his b’day which is a big achievement to a young player like Sachin at that age, Sachin deserves the best & is a world class batsman, even sir Bradman would agree to it.
Thks & Rgds,
Sai Satardekar.
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It’s great that the article has provoked such passionate responses from some of Sachin’s legions of devotees. That’s one of the wonderful things about sport – the passion it invokes in its followers.
What I was trying to say in the story was that both Sachin and The Don should be lauded and celebrated as two of the best batsmen and cricketers the sport has ever known, but that mayve it is time to stop arguing as to who is the greater.
Keep the comments coming.
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The fact is that people want to deny the truth that neither Bradman, nor Sachin can match Sunil Manohar Gavaskar. I wonder what had happened to all Bradman’s when Fearsome deadly four of west indies were on rampage? Only and only Sunny survived.
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Averages were never, are never, and will never be hallmark of a good batsman because it is subject to so much variables even in the same era, forget about different eras.
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Rahul Dravid has been the most under recognized cricketer ever! This is Hillarious, to see that he doesn’t feature in the list
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It is totally absurd to place ponting above tendulkar. Most of ponting’s runs came in australia. He was so poor against spin and has a very poor record in india. The author is totally out of his mind.
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dude i totally agree with ur opinion about nt compring d 2 lgnds…but, this is sports…a comptitn…u gt 2 choose 1…there’s gt 2 b “THE GREATEST” and so i’ll bet all my money on “THE GOD”, Sachin(nt DON)…..:)sry
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Don was a good player but played most his cricket in selected places. He was also facing medium pacers who were more concerned with outlook. No protection needed because cricket was just a fun thing back then. Maybe he took the game seriously, unlike most back then. So in general he was the best batsmen in the ‘old game’. But in the current game with more pace, aggresion and devasation , tendulkar is the best. If bradman were to face some of the quicks today and with all the tech we have his average would drop to 30-40. Have a look at some of his videos and see how the bowlers canter up to bowl its a joke, its like watching girls bowling.
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yes Edgar, I agree with you. Sachine is the best and his outstanding record and passion for playing cricket is unparalleled.
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sachin has the most range of shots and can play in any conditions and against any bowling attack. so he is simply the best. hope he scores 150 centuries. come on sachin
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Sachin is best player for ever.. he is god of cricket.
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You rate Graeme Pollock and Sachin Tendulkar behind Lara and Ponting(who is Aussies’ attempt to manufacture a Bradman using Umpires, while Tendulkar has been equally condemned by them). Ponting should not feature in the top 15 list, Hayden and Gilchrist were better than him. Tendulkar should be in top 5 with Lara.
I think your judgement has been affected by nostalgia, you’re dwelling on the past, an era where you will find only Australian/English and West Indian players and you are refusing to part with that “Old is Gold” mentality.
Tendulkar’s prowess had Sir Don Bradman elicit a comparison. He might have underachieved a bit in terms of average (thanks again to some Aussie umpiring especially with McGrath bowling) and highest scores, but his presence at the crease inspires such awe, the class of his batting, the execution of strokes is inimitable. Lara is still behind him in spite of monumental scores of 375 and 400 against England on home grounds. But to include Ponting and that too at 6 is shocking. He does not belong to this league. It takes a quality fast bowler like say Flintoff, Ishant Sharma (on debut) or spinners like Murali, Harbhajan, Mendis, Saqlain etc to bring out the difference in the class. Ponting just waved his bat like a twig in the wind against them. Not to mention that he has never faced the likes of Mcgrath, Gillespie, Warne and Brett Lee. He is a good batsman but not great in spite of his average and 100′s.
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Better job this time David. I am a good man you see, and I’m sure, you too are. And I do apologise if I was little aggressive last time. I have always beleived that no matter how much we compare or analyse statistics, at the end of it all, great players would seperate themselves from the average ones with the memorable moments they would have left in our minds. If we hate someone now, may be things will change after 10 or 15 years when we understand that oops, he indeed was a masterpiece. For me, more than big names, you see, I admire players like Graham Thorpe, Arvinda de Silva, Andy Flower, Barry Richards, Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee, Shane Warne, Rahul Dravid, Jonty Rhodes, Hansie Cronje and a few others, who actually made a difference to their team when they played, who, may be, did not get as much of applauds and laurels as much as they would have deserved, but nonetheless they brought some thing which was not there before, persevered with their theory and finally won. If I talk about Andy Flower, he, I think was definitely a better test batsman than Gilchrist was, however did not have as much freedom as Gilchrist to go out and blast the bowlers from the word go as so much depended on him, unlike Gichrist who played as if he had the license to kill. But the sad thing is that whenever we talk of the greatest wicketkeeper batsman, the only name mentioned is Adam Gilchrist. Now, Graham Thorpe was just an amazing batsmen for England for a long time but had to retire because of his personal problems. But if ask any Englishmen about their favourite cricket in terms of batting ability alone, many of them, I am sure, would think of him, atleast. Ian Botham was a Hero. He was like a one man Army who actually had the fire and guts to fight the arrogant Aussies and even beat them singlehandedly. Barry Richards was very talented but unlicky as well. Rahul Dravid undoubtedly is the symbol of perseverence and mental toughness. He has had to prove himself so many times and trust me it has been a diifucult journey for a player who actually saw and learnt the game from that undiluted and undisturbed pages of orthodox cricket and was so many times equalled as non competitive for the modern version. But everytime he had the tenacity to prove the world wrong and thereby himself right and beleive me, in the process he has actually left some unprecedented rules for the cricket world to follow, namely, ‘copybook cricket still exist and it is better than any other way out’. Jonty Rhodes introduced the significance of fielding to the world and that it could actually won you matches. And mind you you I would be doing grve injustice to him if I do not highlight his great insight into batting and cricket together.I admired him as a batsman alone.
I do not like to admire arrogant players like Ponting and most of the Australians. Because they may appear as a shooting star to you for some time but would eventually go down. The humble ones would remain stars for ever. And that is where Tendulkar is so great. The milestones that he has achieved and accomplished already in his cricketing career remains a dream for any other player to have played the game, but have we ever witnessed him crying foul for something he did not like or agreed to. If we can and are really willing to accept facts, lets face it. he is the only reason for India becoming the cricketing powerhouse as it is today and thus much of cricket’s success is because of this man. He is the best thing that has ever happened to the game of cricket.
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No one in the class of vivian richards…..not even sachin…….when genuine fast bowlers come you c players go 2 shell and i have seen tendulkar go in shell to in many occassions too when they are express quick……
only viv could take bowlers over 90 mph with ease and without any worry for his life…..he was the only fearless batsman i have ever seen and he never played for records, he just used to go out there to murder bowlers and he did it without worrying about his averages and he hit bowlers from every country out of attack ans stll managed to have average over 50 in tests and 47 in odi…..and he used to play all his shots with risks of getting out and he still did it with ease……
where as tendulkar…..he plays less risky shots compared to when he was young…but viv played risky shot all his life….no 1 comes close to viv richards in terms of talent……he was way above the rest….
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Well you are taking about that batsmen who faced Wasim Akram,Donald,Waqar,Sir richard Hadlee,Saqlian Mustaq,Pollock,Ambrose,Walsh,De -villers,Mulittaran,Warne, Mcgrath,Mc demot…….. And must say destroy all of them in 90′s.
In last decade matched class and played proper cricket as he gained lot of experience by his playing days.
Can any one tell me any batsmen of present era has played such great bowlers and destroy all of them. I only Rank brian Lara of this era carry such respect to compare with him.
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Ok, after reading all the comments, I cant stop laughing. Cant u guys read the question? We are not talking who all are great. We are talking about two GODS OF CRICKET of diff era. Two Immortals, you guys have included mere mortals like Lara, Ponting, Vivian. Please read their comments. Lara says “I am mere mortal, Sachin is Genius”. Ponting says, he is the greatest batsman he has played with or against shared with Shane. Vivian says “He is best of all, it takes a century to see a player like him and we are lucky. I would pay to watch him playing.”
Common guys, Sachin is GOD of this game. Can u guys imagine how much pressure had his whole life when on crease. His one shot would lift some 30 million fans all across. He has to go thru media issues, 100 issues, 200 issues, fitness issues. MAN HE IS STILL PLAYING AND SCORING RUNS, HUNGRY GUY AT 37. REMEMBER THAT MATCH RECENTLY WITH AUSTRALIA CHASING SOME 300+ RUNS, HE RATTLED AUSSIE BOWLERS AND PONTING SAID, THIS IS THE GREATEST INNING OF SACHIN. NOW I HAVE HEARD THIS 100 TIMES WHEN HE PLAYS. SO HOW MANY GREAT INNINGS HE HAS PLAYED?????
THINK ABT IT WHEN COMMENTING ABOUT GODS!!!!!! WHETHER ITS SIR DON OR SIR SACHIN. THEY CANT BE PUT INTO DEBATE. WE ARE MERE KIDS TO JUSTIFY THEIR TECHNIQUE.
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There has only ever been one great batsman and that man is Rob Key
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