Monday, September 7, 2009

Sachin vs Bradman

Those who know me know that I am a Sachin Tendulkar fan and a very big one. There is no doubt in my mind that Tendulkar is the greatest batsmen ever. But there are a few people who think Sir Donald Bradman was the greatest of all time. I would like to disagree. Here is a small comparison. Please tell me what you think of it.

Pressure: Sachin plays every innings under huge pressure. 1 billion people expect him to perform in each and every match, be it against the Aussies or Bangladesh. To perform consistently for 20 years is no joke!!! Bradman never had such pressure during his whole career apart from maybe the Bodyline series and in his last innings against England. Just look what pressure did to him. His average, which was usually over 100 in most series, came down to just 52 in Bodyline and he couldn't score 4 runs in his last innings with the whole world watching.

Number of Matches: Bradman played 52 tests in 20 years whereas Sachin has played 159 tests in the same period. Back then the players easily got 8-10 days of gap in between 2 tests. In one year only 4-5 tests were played and to add to it there were NO ODIs. Nowadays there are so many matches and Sachin has played all of them since his debut in 1989. It is only recently that he has started to take breaks from ODI series but he still plays all the test matches for India.

Position of Batting: Bradman usually came at no.3 or no.4 and mostly when the score were 176/1 or 217/2 No pressure!! Sachin usually came at no.4 and mostly when India had lost both the openers and the scoreboard looked like 20/2!!! In ODIs Sachin opens and has the pressure of laying the foundation and setting the trend for the innings.

Opposition: Bradman played mostly against England and he got used to that bowling. So he scored over 5000 runs against them with an average of around 92. He played one series against each of the minnows of that time (India, South Africa and West Indies) and scored heavily against them. He never played in Indian sub-continent against Indian spinners. Moreover, excluding Larwood, Bradman never played any quality bowlers. Whereas, Sachin played against the likes of Ambrose-Walsh-Bishop, Wasim-Waqar-Akhtar, Warne-McGrath-Lee-Gilespie, Donald-Pollock-Steyn and Vaas-Murali-Mendis. His overseas record is as good as his home record. Also the standard of fielding is far better than it was in that time!

Style of Cricket: In the times Bradman played, cricket was not limited to 5 days and so there was no pressure on teams to enforce a result. So a player could play for as long as he wanted and didn’t want to get out. We all know if Sachin decides this no one can get him out, remember the 241* against Australia in 2004, in which he curbed off side stroke play because the ball was swinging. If Tendulkar had played in the era of Bradman, he would easily have an average above 100.

9 comments:

Aytidaa Madras said...

sahi hai :)
from another sachin fan, I totally agree :P

no doubt bradman was great, but I think tendulkar is historic...

Shruti said...

Why does this remind me of that part in your Valfi Profile, when you were asked your response if given a choice between two certain individuals, one of them being the Little Master himself..

Rajat said...

nice.. since i am a die-hard Sachin fan..i wouldn't agree more..

Rajat said...

Also, if u havent gone through b4.. http://rajatgupta07.blogspot.com/2008/12/very-close-friend-of-mine-asked-me-once.html

Unknown said...

to add in favor of sachin...
the current technology manifests any batsman's weaknesses n to survive for 20 yrs in spite of this, itself ends the debate...

Vj! said...

In Additon to this... Sachin's opponents weren't limted Bowlers... Even Umpires too. Remember Austrilia Series in 2003 or 04 i don remember exactly ..whr he was given SBW..and caught!

Anonymous said...

Tendulkar isn't in the same class as Richards, Sobers, Pollocks, Greg Chappell or Gavaskar so how can you even compare him to Bradman is beyond me. Tendulkar makes cheap runs on good wickets, like sydney, adelaide and all over india. Where are his runs on grounds like brisbane and melbourne, bridgetown, jamaica, port elizabeth etc. He averages 38 against Pak and 40 against SA is that World Class ?

Unknown said...

Hey blogger. Just thought I would add my thoughts on this article, personally I see Bradman as being the best batsman ever. The reason I believe anyone would believe that Tendulkar is better than Bradman is the following. Tendulkar is defiently far mor worshipped than Bradman, and undoubtedly one of the greatest players ever. He is called a 'god' by the indian fans. When someone is considered a 'god' you can't have them being only the second best player ever, they have to be the best player and notably in this article you have not included any statistics, mainly rhetoric. Please tell me what you think. Bradman holds the most significant records to this day. Most runs in a test series 974, Bradman. Most runs in a test day 309, Bradman. Most triple centuries scored 2 (shared with multiple players, all who have scored 2 triple tons. Bradman however did it in only 52 tests) Most test double centuries 12, Bradman, who did it in only 52 tests. The next highest scorer is Brian Lara with 9 from 131 tests. And finally Bradman's most important stat, his batting average of 99.94 which no one has gotten within a country mile in over a century of cricket. And also if the people bowling out bradman were so poor, why aren't other batsmen who faced the same bowlers stats inflated? International bowlers are always top notch and there have never been easy test runs. Also important is the fact that in Bradman's day there was only pads, gloves and a box. Most importantly there was no helmet, a huge difference and today pitches are well manicured and covered. In Bradman's day they were uncovered, if it was raning the night before tough luck. Batting on uncovered pitches is harder than any modern day disadvantage. Finally batting at no. 3 is far less protected than no.4, you could end up facing the second ball and be in the pavillion 4 hours later. Regards,

Abhijeeth veeranki said...

no way sachin is a selfish btsman ,but brad is a true legend.i ve never seen sachin win ning matches single handedly