A few weeks back Wisden India put up the result of their poll (apparently conducted on their official FB page) declaring Rahul Dravid as the best test batsman of India. It surely was like a vicious bouncer that caught most cricket fans by surprise. Despite being a huge fan of Dravid, I was not entirely convinced by the verdict. Was he indeed a better batsman than Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar? So I decided to explore the numbers of Rahul and Sachin since they played in the same era against the same bowlers. Here are some interesting numbers and like they say “Numbers don’t lie”.
Both Sachin and Rahul have been fabulous players on the field and great role models off the field. They have tremendous mutual respect and have not missed a single opportunity to voice it.
Overview: To begin with, Sachin played 43 test innings more than Rahul (329 v 286 innings) yet Sachin ended with an average that was higher than Rahul (53.78 v 52.31). We leave it to your judgement that had Rahul played another 43 innings, would his average have been better than Sachin? In terms of centuries, Sachin smashed 51 test centuries and 68 half centuries against Rahul’s 36 and 63. Obviously Sachin had a knack of converting half centuries to centuries better than Rahul. Now that we have put some elementary numbers in place let’s dig in below the surface to get a better understanding of their performances.
Home and away matches: It’s common knowledge that a batsman is judged by his performance in his home country and in alien conditions. Great players perform exceedingly well abroad and in unfamiliar conditions. Both Sachin and Rahul have a superior average in away test matches compared to home test matches. Sachin averages 54.75 in away matches and 52.67 in home matches while Dravid averages 53.03 when he travels and 51.36 when he plays in India. While there is very little to choose between the two legends, Sachin is a shade better.
Performances against the best bowling attacks: Now let’s delve deeper and get to know the numbers better. As we would all agree the 3 best bowling sides in the world from the mid 90s to 2010 was Australia, South Africa and Pakistan. Scoring runs against them was a tall order. Batsmen received lavish accolades and appreciation when they performed well against these teams. Sachin outshone Rahul against Australia and South Africa but Dravid was superior to Tendulkar when it came to playing against Pakistan. When India played against Australia, Sachin averaged 55.00 against 38.67 by Rahul. Against South Africa, Dravid struggled a bit more. He averaged 33.84 while Sachin’s average was 42.46 – a clear indication that the potent bowling attack of Australia and South Africa did not deter Sachin from playing well consistently. But things were much better for Rahul when he played against Pakistan. He averaged 53.73 while Sachin’s 42.28 was his lowest average among all test playing nations. By dominating 2 of the 3 fearsome bowling attacks in the world of that time, Sachin scores over Dravid in this aspect too.
4th innings performance: We all believe scoring runs on a worn out track is the biggest challenge for a batsman. When we speak about the 4th innings, Sachin rules the world in terms of runs scored with 1625 runs in 60 innings at an average of 36.93 while Dravid stands 5th with 1552 runs in 56 innings at 40.84. But when it comes to centuries, Sachin is ahead of the Karnataka star with three centuries (1 in Manchester + 2 in Chennai). His century in Chennai against England in 2008 helped India to win the match. At the same venue nine years earlier against Pakistan, despite his century India lost the match. His 3rd century was a face saving draw, as a 19 year old in Manchester. On the other hand Rahul managed to score only one century against New Zealand in Hamilton and the match ended in a draw.
World XI: Over the years, many current and ex- players have selected their dream team for a test match. One name that invariably featured in every team was Sachin Tendulkar. He was the No 4 in the Wisden all time Test World XI behind Don Bradman and above Viv Richards. If Sachin made it to that elite team, it makes little sense for Wisden India to use a Facebook poll and declare the best Test batsman of India.
Nightmare for opponents: From time to time McGrath, Waqar, Lee, Warne, Murali and other top bowlers in that era have gone on record stating that Sachin was the best and the most difficult batsman they bowled to in their career. Even opposing captains that included Naseer Hussain,Steve Waugh, Shaun Pollock, Brian Lara, Inzamam, Ricky Ponting have all opined that the master blaster was their major worry when playing against India. With all these greats submitting that they were highly impressed by Sachin Tendulkar, it’s only fair to say that he was the best Test batsman that graced the cricket field in the last 50 years.
Hopefully the observations put up in this article will help you to decide the best test batsman of India, irrespective of what Wisden India’s poll announced.
Wroclaw
9 Aug 2022Numbers don’t lie
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