My Views on Sachin Tendulkar

Let me state my opinion about Sachin clearly. I shall produce evidence and facts to substantiate my views, little later. Also this is an attempt to make my stance on this issue clear and bring an end to the arguement that I have had with my colleagues and friends since last three years.

In my opinion, Sachin is arguably the best one-day batsman and he is immensely devastating when he opens the one-day innings. To call him the world's best one-day opener would'nt be unfair at all. The nature of the One-Day game is such that the openers has the ability to change the course of the match and Sachin certainly has changed the course of quite a few match as an opener.It is also well known and documented Sachin's immense displeasure, when shifted to other batting slot, other than that of an opener.Also one has to remember that he became a terrific success and started scoring mountains of runs once he moved from the middle order to opening.

Nope Sachin is definitely not the best Test batsman that I have seen so far. He's not yet played an innings when it has mattered the most, played and crafted an innings when he has been cornered and when his back is to the wall, under intense cricketing pressure, innings that could have won the match for India single handedly. Nope none so far.
He's played some good innings against Australia in the Tests but none which has resulted in memorable 'snatched-from-defeat' victories for India. There's has not been a single innings of Sachin, which one can remember for years to come, not even the freakish - 'once in a life time', 281 by VVS Laxman.

I have been watching Test Cricket since 1985, and in my opinion the best test batsman that I have seen, (my A-list) are Viv Richards, Brian Lara, Steve Waugh and (my B-list) Sunil Gavaskar, Gordon Greendige, Martin Crowe, Adam Gilchrist, Sachin Tendulkar, Aravinda De Silva and Rahul Dravid.

One-Dayers is primarily a hit and run affair and Sachin is definitely one of the best in this form of game. It's like the Rapid Chess tournament. Some are good, some aren't. Test Matches require different type of skills, apart from the cricketing skills, which in any case Sachin has in plenty. Ability to build long innings, play consistently under sustained pressure, play consistently in alien conditions, perform when nobody performs.

Sachin reacts extremely well to Criticisms and Challenges but very poorly to Cricketing On-field Pressure. Sachin is also a poor finisher. He might take on the opponents head on but has never finished the game on his own. That single quality differentiates greats like Richards, Lara and Steve Waugh from Sachin.

There is no parallel to Sachin, when criticised or challenged. Ruthless when his individualistic ego is hurt. But there is definitely a question mark when 'On-Field Cricketing Pressure Situation' arises. Whenever I have pointed this out, it is usually said that 'Sachin's best is yet to come'. I genuinely hope so and am waiting for that to come.

Sachin is all 'Quantity' than 'Quality'. Quantity defines every aspect of life in India and hence the immense popularity of Sachin Tendulkar.