By Kuldip Lal
India will lose its greatest cricketer when Sachin Tendulkar retires
but the “Little Master” leaves behind records that will not only be
tough to beat, but may never be broken.
Tendulkar, 40, has played more matches, and scored more runs and
centuries, than anyone else in either Test or one-day cricket, and he
is the only batsman to compile 100 international hundreds. What stands
out in an extraordinary 24-year career, which will end with his 200th
Test starting on Thursday, is how far ahead he is both in terms of
statistics and longevity. “Records don’t last forever, but some of
Tendulkar’s achievements like 200 Tests and 100 international
centuries will be hard to beat,” former India captain Kapil Dev told
AFP.
Tendulkar’s 15,847 Test runs dwarf the 13,378 scored by second-placed
and now retired former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, and are 2,707
more than Jacques Kallis, the highest placed active player. Tendulkar
has been even more dominant in one-day cricket, his tally of 18,426
runs being 4,722 more than number two Ponting. Of active batsmen, Sri
Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara leads with 11,948.
Ponting’s 30 one-day centuries pale against Tendulkar’s 49 — although
South Africa’s Kallis is only seven hundreds away from matching the
Indian’s Test tally of 51 tons.
By further comparison, Australia’s Donald Bradman, usually
acknowledged as cricket’s best batsman, retired aged 39 in 1948 with
6,996 Test runs, including 29 centuries, in 52 matches. And despite
Bradman’s staggering Test average of 99.94, West Indian great Brian
Lara said Tendulkar was not only the best of all time, but that his
records could be unmatchable.
“No argument at all — Sachin Tendulkar, for me, has had the greatest
cricket career of anyone who has ever played the game,” Brian Lara
said in London this week. “His stats speak for themselves,” added
Lara. “I don’t think there is any 16-year-old who is going to embark
on the sort of career that Sachin Tendulkar has had and walk away from
the game at 40 or 41 with such great achievements.”
Among current players, Tendulkar’s Test record could possibly be
matched by just two batsmen — the indefatigable all-rounder Kallis,
and England captain Alastair Cook. Kallis, 38, has scored 13,140 runs
in 164 Tests at a commendable average of 55.44. Cook, 28, already has
7,801 runs from 97 Tests, with 25 centuries and an average of 47.85.
However, Dev said the growth of one-day and Twenty20 cricket — and the
rigorous physical demands of the modern game — could put Tendulkar’s
statistics out of reach.
“One would need to play for 25 years to achieve those feats, but can
modern-day players last that long?” he asked. “Most don’t even play
enough Test matches these days.” Tendulkar featured in just one
Twenty20 international, preferring to leave the shortest version to
younger players, but turned out for the Mumbai Indians in domestic T20
up until last month. The proliferation of T20, as well as the money on
offer, has seen many of the game’s best batsmen limiting their
appearances for their country, as well as a tightening of the
international schedule. The West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle, who
should be in the opposition starting line-up for Tendulkar’s farewell
Test in Mumbai, has missed several tours for his country to turn out
for T20 franchises instead. Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar
pinpointed prolific youngster Virat Kohli as someone who may surpass
Tendulkar’s tally of 49 one-day centuries, but said his Test record
appeared impregnable.
Kohli, 25, has scored 4,919 runs in 113 one-day innings so far, with
17 hundreds. At the same stage, Tendulkar had hit 4,001 runs with only
eight centuries.
“It will be well nigh impossible to play 200 Test matches or reach 51
Test hundreds, but the manner in which Virat is batting, 49 hundreds
definitely look possible,” Gavaskar told NDTV news channel.
“He may still be 32 tons away, but the number of one-dayers India play
these days, he could do it.”
So how did Tendulkar manage to play for so long — and so well?
Sri Lanka’s world record-holding bowler Muttiah Muralitharan
attributed Tendulkar’s success to a “perfect technique, rock-solid
temperament and astonishing mental strength.” “The thing with Sachin
is that statistics don’t lie,” Muralitharan wrote in a recent column
in the Times of India. “He was consistent at home and overseas. He was
comfortable against pace and spin. He could thrive on slow pitches and
bouncy pitches.”
Former South African opener Gary Kirsten, who played alongside
Tendulkar and then coached him and India to World Cup glory in 2011,
said his rigorous training and practice sessions before every match
were the key. “He always had a burning desire to score big in every
innings,” Kirsten told the Economic Times. “Whilst many might be
willing to compromise a little after some success, Sachin would become
more ruthless and prepare even harder for the next game. “I really
enjoyed watching his attention to detail during preparation time. The
thing that means the most to me is his absolute love affair with the
game of cricket. “I have never met another person who enjoys the game
more.” – Eurasia Review
