Re: Sachin V/s Inzi : Who is better?
Yeah, all those runs in Australia in the absence of McGrath and Warne, is nothing to write home about…and that is why I said against full strength top tiered team, Sachin is mediocre…The only time Sachin played against a full strength Aussie team in Australia, he managed an average of 46, with one century, well below his career average. Against the same opposition, a month earlier, Inzi averaged 43, with one century as well. An insignificant difference in numbers…
A few years later, when there was only one good bowler, Gillespie (Averaged 37 in the series), in the opposition, and not to mention that he is nearly not as penetrating as McGrath, and against the likes of Williams, Bracken, Bichel, S. Waugh, MacGill, the all time great bowlers, who put God’s fear in any batsman, what does Tendi do? He averages 76 with a score of 241 not out… I am sure if Inzi was given the same circumstances, he would have helped himself to a double century or two…Also against the same full-strength opposition, last year, Tendulkar was upto his same medicore self. Tendulkar is characterisically motivated to score when the opposition is weak, but when the stakes are high, pressure is unbearable and the opposition is at full strength, Tendulkar has no motivation and he often plays to his true potential, as evident in the '03 WC final. India may not have won the match, but atleast, he could have stamped his authority against one of the best teams in history.
Now lets come to another medicore side, known to make featherbed pitches, so that their batters can score tons of runs at home, that is Sri Lanka…(Sri Lanka scoring world record 940 in one innings, with the likes of Jaysuriya scoring 340 and Mahanama 226, plus all the centuries and double centuries their batsmen score at home and fail miserably abroad, all reinforce the fact that Sri lankan pitches are tailored made for batting). Now in Sri Lanka, which is not a world class bowling outfit to say least, Tendulkar averages 111 with five centuries…and if you include 8 more tests played against Lankans at home, Tendulkar still averages 88 with six centuries…Throw in the numbers from Zims and Bangers, and you will start to see a pattern of extra ordinary, highly motivated, and commanding performance against medicore, subpar, half-depleted, and bottom-tiered team, while medicore performances against good, full-strength, top tiered team and that in a nutshell sums Tendulkars’s game, ability and legacy as a player…
Record against: Zims at home, 5 Tests, 4 centuries, average of 113, 201*…
Bangers overall, 3 Tests, 1 century, average of 151, 248*…