This one’s for Tendulkar’s misguided naysayers

So i have a long running argument (part fun, part real)  with an old friend. Does Tendulkar perform only in losing causes? And since he provoked me again after the Durban win – i felt compelled to respond long and  hard to that 'innocuous' question of how Tendulkar fared in the Durban test :-)

So my first non IPL post on this blog is for you Mr Bajaj!!!

Let me answer the question though. Yes he failed (13 and 6) in this test match. Arguably so did everyone across both teams except Laxman. At least he top scored in the previous game in a losing cause – but more  on that below. However the fact is he didn’t do well in Durban. And is not as good with the tail as  Laxman is . And perhaps is a better first innings player than 2nd Innings (like most people in the world).

 

That said, here are some facts.

1. Tendulkar scores only in losing causes: i looked at the averages of our top 7 batsmen across their career, only in matches India won and matches India won since Jan 2008. I think the story is clear (and if i add his losing cause scores then... , well never mind).

Averages	Career	All matches won	Matches won since 2008
sehwag	54	57	68
gambhir	50	49	66
dravid	52	65	44
tendu	56	67	76
laxman	47	54	57
ganguly	42	46	37
dhoni	40	47	58

 

2. Tendulkar has scored 17.5% of total runs scored by India since Jan 2008. Use whatever ratios you want but its very disproportionate.

 

3. Next argument – his  average is bolstered by centuries vs Bangladesh. First,  I'll remind you that all the batsmen had the same opportunity. But nevertheless , if i take out the Bangladesh wins from the above table then his average falls to 73 from 76. No big deal.

 

4. Finally – does he play a leading role in our wins – beyond the averages?: Some judgment here but in the 16 tests that he played in since 2008 where India won, he has played a leading role in at least 9 of those games. i defined leading role as (i) either been man of the (3 times) or (ii) scored a century (7 times) or (iii) scored 20% of India's runs (7 times). Again 9/16  so I wont do the math.

 

Lets wait for the next game and the world cup to seal the debate!!! 

I’ll stop here but you get the point as this picture is better than my  1810 words :-)