இந்த அரிய மாபெரும் கலெக்ஷன் இன்று மெயிலில் வந்தது....!
லிட்டில் மாஸ்டருக்கு நம் பிறந்தநாள் வாழ்த்துகளைக் கூறிக்கொண்டு அவர்தம் தீவிர ரசிகர்களுக்காய் இதனை இங்கு பகிர்கிறோம்!
10 real reasons to remember Tendulkar in ODIs
Tendulkar has chased down more targets than any other batsman in ODI history.
By Jaideep Varma and Jatin Thakkar
There was a strong case for Sachin Tendulkar to call it quits after his last ODI match in Australia. His gigantic presence is quite simply not required by the Indian team any more – as what immediately follow are lesser challenges. Those can be used more constructively to build a team for the future, more pertinently – the 2015 World Cup, as it is not realistic to expect Tendulkar to be available for that.
Whether he is prudent enough to retire very soon or not (or whether he is allowed to by commercial interests determining agendas), this is not a bad time to recap his formidable, even intimidating, ODI legacy.
In conventional terms, he has all the major records – most matches played, most runs, highest tally of centuries; till recently, he also had the highest individual score. But what does it all mean? How do you combine his performances in all the parameters of batting and construct a single, holistic picture?
Impact Index tries to construct that portrait.
1. Tendulkar’s impact is greater than what his 48 ODI centuries reveal.
The real story lies in counting the IMPACT 5 performances; Tendulkar has the highest in ODI history. Impact Index measures the impact of a player in each match he plays on a scale of 0 to 5, so an IMPACT of 5 is not a common occurrence. In the history of ODI cricket, only three players have more than 50 IMPACT 5 performances in their careers – Tendulkar (74), Jayasuriya (70) and Kallis (54). Richards and Akram have 40-odd and then the cluster begins in the 30s. The remarkable thing here is that Tendulkar is largely a single skill player (despite a decent Bowling IMPACT – in fact, his bowling added to 19 of those 74 performances) and the only batsman to reach such heights.
As a pure batsman, Tendulkar is miles ahead of everybody with 55 IMPACT 5 performances; Jayasuriya is next with 38, followed by Viv Richards (29), Aravinda DeSilva (25), Ponting and Kallis (23). Azharuddin, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Jayawardene, Atapattu, Martin Crowe and Dean Jones all touch 20 too. This is different from century aggregates where Tendulkar (48) is followed by Ponting (30), Jayasuriya (28), Ganguly (22), Gibbs (21), Saeed Anwar (20), Gayle and Lara (19 each).
The list after Tendulkar changes so much because Impact Index combines functions like strike rate, pressure and others with runs tally to determine an impact. It is remarkable that Tendulkar’s IMPACT 5 performances with the bat exceed his centuries tally (in fact, many of his centuries do not touch an IMPACT of 5 as they’re in high scoring matches or against weak opposition) - it suggests that the impact of his batting goes way beyond just piling on the runs.
2. Tendulkar’s 200 is not his most landmark innings.
There are two parts to this.
One, on a series or a tournament level, it is not hard to grasp why other performances have a higher impact than his 200 – as the latter did not come in a crunch match. Unlike the top performances in his career in this context, which include the following amongst the top 5:
1) His unbeaten 117 in the first final of the CB Series against Australia in 2008. He produced a magnificent 91 in the second final too, as India won the trophy. That’s as good as big match play gets.
2) 95 vs Pakistan in Dhaka, in the first final of the Independence Cup in 1998.
3) 134 vs Australia in Sharjah in 1998.
4) 138 vs Sri Lanka in Colombo, 2009.
5) 143 vs Australia in Sharjah 1998 – the famous “sandstorm” innings, which did not win the match for India but got them into the final (so, was a big match). There are 9 other such innings before the 200 features on a “Tendulkar’s highest impact innings” list which factors in the tournament or series.
Two, even on a pure match level (without considering the series or tournament context), there are 3 performances that had a higher impact than the 200.
1) 82 not out vs Sri Lanka at Guwahati in 1997, chasing 173 in 43 overs (bizarrely, Robin Singh got the Man-of-the-Match award here for taking 5 wickets, even though he had a far lower impact).
2) 112 not out vs Sri Lanka at Sharjah, chasing 203 in 50 overs.
3) 186 not out vs New Zealand, Hyderabad, 1999. Dravid also got 153 but the Kiwis collapsed for 202. Since the opposition performance also determines impact, utterly demoralising performances like this register high. In the 200 match, South Africa did manage 248, and even from his own team, Karthik, Y Pathan and Dhoni made explosive runs, which brought down Tendulkar’s overall impact in the match. Interestingly, Tendulkar’s 89 against Pakistan at Toronto in 1996 (chasing 171 in 33 overs in not-so-easy conditions) registers almost the same impact as his 200.
3.Tendulkar’s runs tally and batting average both do not reveal his true place in ODI cricket.
Tendulkar comes 10th on a list arranged by descending batting averages in ODI history (minimum 75 matches). Amongst Indians, he is 3rd, after MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. This is highly misleading of course, as not outs tend to skew the averages of middle-order players in ODI cricket. Runs Tally IMPACT (which measures what proportion of his team’s runs a batsman has made over his career) gives a more accurate picture, and in this measure, Tendulkar is 7th in ODI history and easily the highest Indian.
The conventional runs tally measure has him on top of the list, which of course celebrates his longevity more than anything else, as it makes no distinction between strength-of-opposition and the circumstances the runs came in.
4. Contrary to what many think, Tendulkar has absorbed pressure more times than any Indian in his ODI career.
Pressure IMPACT measures the pressure a batsman faces when wickets fall at the other end. On this count, despite being insulated somewhat as an opener (as the score is always 0-0 at the start), the bare fact is that Tendulkar absorbed pressure 64 times in his career. This came about during the 142 times he faced pressure, so he actually absorbed it 45% of the time he came under it, a very respectable percentage, especially given the long career he has had. (Dravid, who has the highest Pressure IMPACT amongst all Indians in ODI cricket, actually absorbed pressure only 39% of the time he came under it).
Internationally, only Ponting and Kallis absorbed pressure more times than Tendulkar, but they also came under it much more as they were not openers.
5. Contrary to popular assumption, Tendulkar has chased down more targets than any other batsman in ODI history.
Despite a belief in some quarters that Tendulkar plays better while setting targets than chasing them (one of the most important attributes of a top-class batsman), the fact also is that no other batsman has contributed substantially to chasing down targets as often as Tendulkar has (54 times) in all of ODI cricket. Kallis (52) and Ponting (46) follow him on that count. Amongst Indians, the gap is much more, as Azharuddin (44) and Yuvraj Singh (35) follow him. Tendulkar has the lowest failure rate amongst Indian batsmen in ODIs.
6. Against popular perception, Tendulkar has more series/tournament-defining performances than any batsman in ODI history.
Tendulkar is joint-3rd on a list of series/tournament-defining performances – the true legacy of any cricketer is established from this. He has 10; only Jayasuriya (12) and Akram (11) are ahead of him, while Pollock (10) is level with him. That still makes him the only batsman to touch such heights. Ponting (8) and Dean Jones (7) are the batsmen who follow him on this count.
So, it is not quite true that Tendulkar hasn’t delivered in big matches for India, as has been the case made against him by some. 1998 and 2008 are the two memorable highlights in that regard.
7. Tendulkar’s Strike Rate is remarkable for someone who has scored as heavily as he has.
He has played with three generations of cricketers so his conventional strike rate of 86 tells a confused story. The standards of his time changed more than once with every generation. However, his Strike Rate IMPACT (factoring in the context of every match) is amongst the top 35 in the history of ODI cricket, which is remarkable considering how heavily he scored right through his career, and what a long career it has been (and the fact that many inconsistent pinch-hitters are ahead of him here). Amongst Indians, only
Sehwag and Kapil Dev are ahead of him, neither of whom comes even close in terms of reliability and consistency.
8. Tendulkar has played the most matches for India and yet has the lowest failure rate for batsmen.
When a batsman fails to register an impact of even 1 on the IMPACT scale, it is deemed as a failure in this system. It is remarkable that Tendulkar has the lowest failure rate amongst batsmen for India (44%) in ODI cricket. Dhoni and Sidhu run him close but they have played 190 and 131 innings (in completed matches) while Tendulkar has played a massive 433. Internationally, Tendulkar is 14th on this list, but not one of them touched even 300 innings (Gilchrist with 280 is the highest), let alone 400.
9. Tendulkar is the greatest Indian ODI batsman by a mile.
No Indian batsman comes close to Tendulkar – the amount of daylight between him and the next best dazzles the eyes – Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Navjot Sidhu, Gautam Gambhir and Md Azharuddin - all form a cluster way below him in this order, on the IMPACT list, which is rather different from the view conventional statistics provides.
10. Tendulkar is the greatest ODI batsman of his generation.
Internationally, ever since Tendulkar came into his own as an ODI batsman (1994), no one has come close to having his kind of impact in this form of the game. Three batsmen from the generation before his, however, did have a greater impact than him - Viv Richards, Dean Jones and Gordon Greenidge, in this order. There can be no doubt that Richards was the greatest batsman in this format (he tops all the major batting parameters by a distance). Dean Jones’ place in ODI cricket is scandalously forgotten today – he was a true game-changer for his generation in this format, and narrowly after Richards, the highest impact big match player in ODI history. Greenidge’s phenomenal talent, besides finding more consistent expression in this form of the game, also got the benefit of his team’s legendary bowlers giving his own batting contributions more weight in the context of the match (Richards also benefitted from this, of course, but he was a bigger occasion player and is very far ahead of everybody else anyway). When it comes to sheer quantity of runs, it’s interesting that all three (and interestingly, also Geoff Marsh) actually scored a higher proportion of runs for their teams in their respective careers than Tendulkar did over his (measured by Runs Tally IMPACT).
But of course, Tendulkar’s career has been more than double the size of each of theirs. In the end, this longevity is Tendulkar’s greatest attribute in ODI cricket history – it is what makes him go up all these IMPACT batting lists too. That, combined with his consistency and the many batting parameters on which he has delivered suggests that he has been the most complete batsman in ODI cricket. More than anything else, this is what defines Sachin Tendulkar’s greatness in this format.
One can only hope that now, an artificially induced longevity (more through commercial interests than cricketing motivation) at the end of his career does not take away the sheen off what he has accomplished. Sadly, there is danger of that happening.
Tendulkar scores landmark century of centuries
The great batsman's year-long wait for a hundred ends as he makes 114 against Bangladesh in Mirpur
The single that ended an year-long wait. (Reuters)
The monkey is finally off his back.
At about half past four at Mirpur's Shere Bangla Stadium, Sachin Tendulkar tapped a delivery from Shakib Al Hasan on his pads behind square. He scampered to the non-striker's end for a single. There was no exaggerated celebration; just a tired-looking glance heavenwards, a raised bat accepting the congratulations, and a finger pointed at the tri-colour on his helmet.
He was embraced by Suresh Raina in the middle before the Bangladesh players also ran up to congratulate him. The crowd welcomed the moment. They didn't mind that the home team had been at the receiving end of this milestone. The oldest man on the park had finally done it.
Tendulkar celebrates his hundred. With that single, Tendulkar completed his hundredth century in international cricket — an unprecedented feat that will not be passed again by anyone in a hurry. It was also his 49th hundred in an ODI, ending his year-long wait for a three-figure knock.
There may have been a more befitting stage for such an incredible milestone than an Asia Cup encounter against a weak bowling attack. Less befitting was the manner in which he crawled to the mark. There were 82 dot balls in Tendulkar's innings, completely in contrast with how Virat Kohli, Raina, andseveral of the Bangladeshi batsmen played this game. He was a shadow of his former aggressive self in this innings, but what's beyond doubt is Tendulkar's place among the greatest sports persons of all times.
A hundred hundreds in international cricket was unheard of. In 1998, Tendulkar took the record at 36 hundreds held jointly by Sunil Gavaskar, Vivian Richards and Desmond Haynes. He has nearly tripled the mark, and this incredible feat of longevity will put him along such sporting icons as Pele, Navratilova and Federer.
Tendulkar, who is now in the 23rd year of his international career had been searching for this landmark since March 12 2011 when he last scored a hundred, against South Africa in Nagpur during the World Cup. Since then, he went 33 innings — including whole tours to England and Australia — without a hundred.
With each failure, the clamour around the milestone grew louder, with experts even questioning his motives behind continuing playing for India at the expense of young players waiting in the wings.
Today, India lost the early wicket of Gautam Gambhir in the sixth over when Shafiul Islam clean bowled the left-handed opener. Tendulkar and Virat Kohli (66) then added 148 runs for the second wicket, setting the stage for a big score.
Tendulkar scored his half-century in 63 balls with a lofted drive over extra cover off Shakib. He'd had a rough tour of Australia and this was also his first fifty since the 85 he scored against Pakistan in the World Cup semi-final.
He took 138 deliveries to score his century, which is one of his slowest in ODIs, but the occasion was so historic that it shouldn't take the sheen off the landmark.
Tendulkar scored 114 from 147 balls before he was caught behind off Mashrafe Mortaza's bowling in the 47th over of India's innings which ended at 289-5 in their allotted 50 overs.
'It was mentally tough'
Talking to Neo Cricket commentator Rameez Raja after India's innings, Tendulkar said it has been a tough phase for him even though he started the season batting "reasonably well". Asked if he had been thinking about the milestone, Tendulkar said he hadn't.
Tendulkar said the hype around his hundredth century was started by the media and he was asked about it wherever he went - be it restaurants, house-keeping, or even while ordering room service. "Whoever met me spoke about it," he said.
"I was not (thinking about it) to be honest. Nobody spoke about the 99th hundred when I got it in the World Cup. But since then, I have been asked about it wherever I have gone. "
"It became difficult mentally because I am not playing only for my hundredth hundred."
"Everybody has their opinions but I've got to do what it important for the team."
He conceded the moment hadn't sunk in yet but said "I have lost about fifty kilos."
Asked what he would advice young people watching him at this moment, Tendulkar said, "Enjoy your game and chase your dreams. Dreams do come true.I had to wait for 22 years to realise my dream of winning the World Cup. Don't stop chasing your dreams."
Congratulations galore
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was amongst the first to wish Tendulkar and said he has made the country proud. "Tendulkar's long career has been a triumph of class, character and courage. I wish him many more innings and feats to continue inspiring the youth," Singh said in a press release.
Tendulkar was also congratulated by ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said he is a marvel to cricket lovers around the world, adding he is a true role model. "On behalf of every cricket fan around the globe I congratulate Sachin on becoming the first person to score 100 centuries for his country. This is indeed a magnificent feat and not likely to be easily emulated," Lorgat was quoted as saying in an ICC release.
Lorgat also said: "Like millions of others I have personally followed his career ever since he first played for India as a gifted 16-year-old and now, more than two decades later, his passion and personal records, which include more than 33,000 runs at international level, is a modern day wonder."
Tendulkar scored his first international century - 119* - against England at Old Trafford in August 1990; while his first ODI century (110) came against Australia at Colombo on 9 September 1994.
Tendulkar scored 12 centuries in 1998 - the most he has in a year in his career. He has scored eight centuries in three different years (1996, 1999 and 2010).
Tendulkar, who is the most capped player in Tests and ODIs, holds an array of batting records including for the most runs and centuries scored in those two formats of the game.
In his 188 Tests, Tendulkar has scored 15470 runs, including 51 centuries; and in his 462 ODIs, the batting maestro has scored 18,374 runs, including 49 centuries.
Tendulkar has scored 1000 or more runs in a calendar six times - 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2010. He has also scored 1,000 or more ODI runs in a calendar year seven times - 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2007.
LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT MASTER BLASTER
Following are a few little-known facts about Sachin Tendulkar, who became the first player to score a century of international hundreds on Friday.
* Tendulkar has 13 coins from his coach Ramakant Achrekar. He would win a coin if he could get through an entire session of nets without being dismissed.
* Tendulkar holds the unique distinction of scoring a century on debut in Ranji Trophy, Irani Trophy and Duleep Trophy.
* Tendulkar was a ball boy during the 1987 semi-final between India and England.
* There are two wards in New Delhi's Tihar Jail, one named after Tendulkar and another after Vinod Kambli -- the duo shared a 664-run unbroken partnership in a school match.
* Tendulkar was the first player to be given out by the third umpire in an international game.
* Everyone remembers Vangipurappu Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid's (180) 376-run partnership against Australia in a Kolkata test in 2001 after being asked to follow on but many have forgotten Tendulkar's three wickets in the second innings, including those of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist to trigger the collapse.
* Tendulkar was the first individual without an aviation background to be awarded the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force.
After 22 years, I know what I should be doing, says Sachin
I've achieved a number of personal milestones, but that's not why I started to play, says Sachin Tendulkar.
The Telegraph: Sachin 'The Master' Tendulkar reserved the 6 pm slot, on Tuesday, for an exclusive with The Telegraph at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Dhaka. The interview began half-an-hour behind schedule as he hadn't finished his workout in the hotel's gym and also had to oblige fans who'd been waiting for him to emerge after sweating it out on the treadmill and doing the weights. The gentleman that he is, Sachin more than made up by taking questions for close to an hour. There was a forced break, for a few minutes, as Sachin got a belated congratulatory call.
The following are excerpts:
You were mentioning that, nowadays, you actually wake up stress-free...
Absolutely, for a year I couldn't... Life in that respect has changed, has changed in a big way. My family had also been under so much stress.
Having raised the bar to such an extent, what next?
I've achieved a number of personal milestones, but that's not why I started to play...To repeat what I've said a number of times, the earliest dream cricket-wise was to play for India and, later, to be a World Cup winner...Milestones have come along the way. Look, you can't wake up one morning and say that today is the day when I will get a hundred. That's not the way cricket goes.
But with nothing left to prove, how will you keep challenging yourself?
I didn't take to cricket to prove something. Playing for India continues to motivate me and, as long as I remain motivated, I don't really have to look at a fresh challenge. Being motivated is the key.
Surely, like Sir Donald Bradman's Test average of 99.94, your record of 100 International hundreds won't be bettered...
(Smiles) I haven't thought about it...The belief is that records are meant to be broken.
A few days have gone by...Today, how do you look back on the 100th hundred?
I do feel different...Instead of wishing me for that hundred, people are now congratulating me! I could have done with the people not talking (only) about the 100th hundred for a year, the time it took me to get it.
It's not that you hadn't been batting well...
Yes, but only a hundred would've satisfied the people.
For the first time, perhaps, you looked at the bat instead of gazing upwards on getting a hundred. You looked up only later (to thank God and to remember his late father). Why?
Probably because my first thought was that even after scoring 99 International hundreds, it was tough to get one more...People had been giving advice left, right and centre, but scoring a hundred is never easy...I mean, I had to wait a year to move from 99 to 100...There were occasions when I felt that people had forgotten that I'd scored 99 hundreds. The attention had only been on when I'd get one more.
Did that upset you or make you angry?
Well, I felt too many people were expressing too many opinions...That I should be doing this or should be doing that...After 22 years, I know what I should be doing. The 100th International hundred is a gentle reminder to those people...But don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that I've got back at certain people.
It's not that you don't care about your fans...
I do care for their sentiments, of course...I respect the fact that I have so many well-wishers, everywhere, and I value their support.
Of late, quite a few people had been advising you to retire from ODIs...Opinion polls were conducted...Did it bug you? After all, nobody told you when to make your debut, so why should they advise you on when to quit?
I didn't follow the polls and neither my family nor my well-wishers told me what others were saying (on the retirement issue)...My family and friends know that such things won't make me play better cricket...I'll play as long as I feel confident of delivering. I'll stop the day I feel I've lost that confidence. It's not about 'I' or about 'me'...It's about Indian cricket.
A day after the hundred, you told the media that you'd be acting in a selfish manner if you decided to quit ODIs immediately after getting to such a huge milestone...
Exactly. For that would mean the 'I' and the 'me' happen to be much more important, but that's not so.
Sachin Tendulkar with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina Wajid in Dhaka.
Retirement is a very personal matter, isn't it?
It is.
Your first match after the 100th hundred was against Pakistan. How different did you feel?
My preparation was the same, my routine didn't change...Just because that hundred has been achieved, I can't go out and do what I want to do...I've got to play for the team.
But the pressure of getting that hundred was off...
It was, but the pressure of having to chase 330 was there! I couldn't think of anything else, that the (100th) hundred had already been realised or that it was a 'fresh' start for me. My concern was for the task at hand.
You've been a part of some truly memorable chases. Where would you place Sunday's win over Pakistan?
I don't like to rate or rank...But, yes, I was thrilled with our victory...Eventually, we won with so much to spare (13 balls remaining) and the level of satisfaction was very high. [Despite a swollen right hand, the result of a Nasir Jamshed hit, Sachin opened the innings and contributed 52.]
Young Virat Kohli played a tremendous hand (183 off 148 balls)...
Virat has matured in the last three-four years, has grown as a cricketer...I like the way he builds his innings and the way he absorbs pressure...Of course, there's a long way to go before he realises what he wants to achieve, but he has tremendous talent and is turning out to be so consistent. Virat has what it takes for a good cricketer to turn into a special one.
Besides asking youngsters to chase their dreams, what would be your advice to them?
Be sincere and honest, to yourself and to the game...There are bound to be tough phases, but don't look for shortcuts...Face those situations head on, as you'll then emerge a better cricketer. Above all, enjoy the game. That's very important.
What does it take to stay at the top?
(Smiles) Passion.
Despite being in the public eye for over 22 years, you're such a private person...
That's the way I am...Everybody is different...The way I look at things, the way I respond to situations, could be very different to others...I accept that...I do the things I want to do, react the way I want to, not because somebody wants me to behave in a particular manner. I respect others for the way they are and I should be allowed my space.
Do you keep a distance even with friends?
Not intentionally, never...But I'm different from X or from Y...I have friends and I have close friends, as it is with other individuals. I don't socialise much and, to me, my comfort level (in interacting with people) is important. There's no reason for me to be uncomfortable.
Cricket is a lot different today compared to 1989...Are you happy with the path its taking?
The changes, I think, have been good for the game...It's only when you try out something new that you'll know whether it's going to work or not. Like each team having two innings of 25 overs in ODIs instead of batting once only for 50 overs...If that's there, in case of a weather disruption, you could have a result on the basis of the two first innings...I've given my views in writing to the ICC and the BCCI.
After a period of some doubt, it appears that the 50-over game is back to its position of strength...
It's there to stay.
Is there a need to balance the mushrooming of T20 with the traditional formats?
Frankly, I haven't looked at the balancing factor...But the people are enjoying what they're getting.
The world too has changed in the past 22 years, from the time you made your Test debut in Karachi...
Arre, let's stick to cricket. What will I say on other things?
To get back to your 100th International hundred...What did your Mother tell you when you spoke to her that night?
She was, expectedly, very happy...Said she'd been praying...Like the rest of the family, my Mother had been stressed for a year, so it was a relief for her too...Unless a common man experiences something similar, he won't be able to appreciate what I and my family went through.
Finally...Are you disappointed that nobody from the family was present in Dhaka?
No...There have been other milestones which the family hasn't watched in person...You know it...My family doesn't keep travelling with me. Nobody was with me physically, but in a sense, they were still there. It's about the emotional bonding...Without the family's support, I wouldn't have got to where I have.
Finally, very interesting controversy over the MASTER :
" Sachin, whose brand value is estimated at Rs 20 crore a year, then sought a duty waiver of approximately Rs 1.6 crore on the Ferrari and Pramod Mahajan hastened to oblige by recommending it to the finance ministry.
The mantriji cleared the recommendation double-quick, ignoring the commercial aspects of the deal. He forgot that even life-saving drugs are not exempted from duty by his ministry. There was much outrage and a PIL was filed, but both cricketer and the government remained silent. Interestingly, hundreds of Sachin’s adoring fans dashed off letters expressing the touching belief that he would voluntarily pay up the duty."
The Conclusion :
1. Sachin, though a Billionaire, seeks to tax redemption. So the Govt. should give all of us rebates from taxes.
2. Sachin's Ferrari is exempted from custom duty but not the 'Life Saving Drugs'. It is clear that he is worth more than the Life of any other Indian, whosoever it be.
3. Sachin's Fans really love him too much that they wanted to pay the Import Duty. Rs. 1.6 Crore.
4. Sachin's Brand Value of that Year was Rs 20 Crore a year....
