Sachin’s genius 10,000 times displayed

EDITOR: When India’s Sachin Tendulkar became the fifth batsman to reach the awesome milestone of 10,000 runs in Test cricket on Wednesday, cricket pundits the world over embarked on analysis of his countless feats and deeds, comparing them with those of the other greats. {{more}}

Interestingly, at the local level, some tongues began wagging, coming to conclusions which have no basis in fact.

One of these for instance, put forward the view that Tendulkar cannot be as highly rated as his peers, because, according to the “analyst”, he makes most of his runs at home, in India. Fact does not bear this out, for if one examines Sanchin’s home and away record, there is not much to choose.

• HOME – 4448 runs at an average of 59:00, with 15 centuries and 17 fifties.

• AWAY – 5489 runs at an average of 56.58, with 19 centuries and 22 fifties.

Interestingly he has done better against Australia on their own grounds than at home, and averages 71.60 in England. So much for this “home” theory!

Tendulkar joins Brian Lara not just in the 10,000 run-club, but also in the exact number of innings he took to get there, 195. The other three members of the “club”, Sunil Gavaskar (India) and the Australians Allan Border and Steve Waugh all took over 200 innings to reach the magic goal. For the record, Tendulkar had the highest average of all when reaching the 10,000 mark (57.80) with Lara next on 52.91.

Finally, in terms of rate of progression, Sachin took 28 innings for his first 1000 runs, but only 16 for both his second and tenth 1000 runs! Truly a batting genius!

A Cricket Fan