Arm Ball has an interesting reply to my post on Sachin Tendulkar’s original ODI days. Good post and lots of nice facts. But I think he misses a couple of points which I will elaborate upon.
But before that, let me be clear about my views on Tendulkar. I do think that Tendulkar is the greatest ODI cricket batsman ever. No one has ever come even close to him in any aspect of his game. He could turn the game on a dime and without him, India would never have been the force in one-dayers it has been. Quite often, you would hear some silly bowler make disparaging comments about Tendulkar. Tendulkar would keep silent, but in the next match, absolutely destroy that bowler. Always a gentleman with his mouth, but a brute with his bat.
Like all Indians, I worship Tendulkar, but we have to be level-headed about his achievements. Obviously, if Tendulkar could do no wrong, he could never lose his wicket and every ball would be dispatched for boundaries. Tendulkar has achieved more than enough for us and we have to respect that by not brushing away his failures.
So, let me point out a few problems with Arm Ball’s analysis, all of which you can verify by taking a peek at Cricinfo.
- From Tendulkar’s ODI debut to Aaqib Javed’s Sharjah game, he played mostly at No. 5. But from the South African’s first return ODI through the 1992 World Cup to the South African tour, he played almost always at No. 4. And then until the New Zealand tour in 1994, he was at No. 5 almost all the time.
Arm Ball says, “During this days, he used to come at 5 or 6 in the ODIs.” But that is not true. Tendulkar came in at No. 4 during the 1992 World Cup. This No. 4 position matched his No. 4 position in the Test side at that time. But for some reason, during the South African tour, he was demoted to No. 5 and he stayed there for a long time.
- Regarding the first century against Australia, Arm Ball says, “He had an SR of 84 runs per 100 balls.” I agree with that, but I am talking about the second part of that century. The first fifty was made in 50 balls (or even less). The second fifty took 70+ balls at a strike rate of 71%. That is also not too bad, but the criticism was that he deliberately slowed down.
I personally don’t blame him for doing what he did. He had never hit a century in almost 80 innings, so it was a mark that he wanted to get. Secondly India easily won the match. But my point was that Tendulkar was criticized by the media and other players at that time. Remember that the media and the selectors can be cruel sometimes. Boycott was once dropped for making a slow double-century in a match that England won.
Obviously, in 1994, there was nothing on the Internet about these matches. You had to watch and hear the match and read the newspapers and magazines like Sportstar. I remember the criticism against Tendulkar. Arm Ball doesn’t. Unfortunately, neither of us can prove it. Only thing I would ask you to consider if that if a player concedes many dot balls by defensive strokes during the last 10 overs, what would be your reaction to that kind of play?
- I agree with Arm Ball that 11 fifties in 78 games is a reasonable achievement. Tendulkar was not a bad batsman, but he was not a great one during those days. And like every player, he had ups and downs. Since he was not that established, when he hit bad form, he would be prone to criticism.
In 1993, Tendulkar made 319 runs from 18 matches at 24.53 at a strike rate of 73.16 and one solitary fifty. If Tendulkar was not making runs in Tests at the same time, he would have been dropped, no questions. So that is why 1994 was Tendulkar’s biggest turnaround point. He made 1089 runs in 25 matches at 47.34 at a strike rate of 88.60 with 12 scores of 50+.
- This is a minor point, but Arm Ball talks about “2 wkts in the Perth ODI”. No, that was a single wicket to break the last West Indies pair to gain an ODI tie. That was Tendulkar’s only over in that match and was a last throw of the dice by Azharuddin. Tendulkar would repeat a similar challenge against South Africa a few years later. Anyway, Tendulkar took only one more wicket in the remaining 9 matches India played in the series.
Differences apart, I like Arm Ball’s post as he takes us through a bit of India’s ODI history. Personally for me, I think the key points in Tendulkar’s early ODI batting career were his 1992 World Cup, the Hero Cup final, the 1994 New Zealand innings as opener, the 1996 World Cup and finally the Sharjah innings, the last one absolute brilliance. He was always great in Tests, but the ODI legend took some time in the making.