The Mighty Has Fallen . Review on Sachin Tendulkar

I have always thought about how a batsman becomes great overnight after 1 particular innings sometimes whereas others are thought of as Great from the moment they are spotted. Examples of guys who became great are - Steve Waugh – Jayasuriya – Dravid, Examples of guys who were almost born great are – Lara – Richards - Ponting, etc. Here is a very interesting comment of what makes a batsman great. Why cant Inzi score more against Bang and ZIM compared to Sachin ? Just shows that Inzi is a Complacent batsman. Not good enough when it comes to concentration.

Inzi averages so high in the last 20 games compared to Sachin when Sachin was out of form and injured. BUT still overall Sachin averages higher. What does that say about their OVERALL quality? How about their averages against Australia the best bowling line up of the last 15 years? Inzi averages 81 in winning tests but you don’t mention how many of those wins are against Zim and Bang, Inzi scored 20 centuries out of 23 centuries which Pak won (including Zim and Bang) Tendulkar scored 12 in victories. That shows that even when India was losing in a game.

Tendulkar fought and got a century in that pressure. The Tendu-lovers on this MS cant handle guys like me who see right through Tendu's selfish motives and call him out for what he is, a cheating deceptive MORON who is playing with people's feelings. If he is so great, why has India LOST more often than not in his career? He was even made captain, he had a chance to take control of the situation and turn it around, but instead under him were India's darkest days as a team. Anyway, that is a separate discussion. Point is Tendu ass-lickers can’t handle people talking the truth about him.

So they start abusing people's religion, country and families. This is how far down the gutter you Tendu fans are. Reason Tendulkar is being adored as god because during the dark periods under Azharuddin, Tendulkar was the only solace for Indian fans. He entertained them no end in spite of pathetic bowling attacks. Anybody will be proud to have such a player doing well. Tell me won’t a Zimbabwean be proud of Andy flower or not? In spite of Lara featuring in 53 test losses any West Indian will be proud of Lara. But when you have hero like them in a larger, more cricket mad country obviously he will have a cult status.

He has fan following all over the world. There is a reason for Indians to be proud of him! Just because a player is over-appreciated you cannot pull all stops to under mine him by bringing in all the irrelevant statistics and all the arguments comparing him with all players! Lara is all class - the truly great player of this era. Tendu is just some handicapped midget who plays for himself and has fooled a billion Indians for 17 years now. Cant decide whose worse, the sh*t head Tendu for being deceptive, or the foolish Indians for being so damn stupid. Actually many Indian fans start abusive threads.

About Inzamam, complaining about his stats abroad, weight, cheat, running, not in the top class of bats, so its a two way traffic. You guys just seem to be more sensitive when people are critical of Tendulkar and don’t handle or take it very well. Yes but it is natural for India are a nation of hero worshipers. In a country of more than one billion people, most of whom are idle and unguided, there is one sport, one Sachin. I would not be surprised if one day people will build Sachin temples and make idols of him then those foolish Indians will sings bhajans for him as well.

It does not matter whether you have the likes of Bradman, Sobers, Viv Richards, Miandad, Steve Waugh and Gavaskar in your side, 607 is just a very big ask. It’s no wonder only three teams have ever successfully chased 400+ to win a test in the history of cricket. Again if he had scored a hundred during a really testing time in the second innings or at least put up some resistance and taken the match into a final day - neither of those two things happened - India would probably have still lost the match but I would have praised SRT for delivering when it mattered

After all it’s not we but Indians who have nick-named Dravid (not SRT) ‘The Wall’. That shows that even you guys think that Dravid is more dependable than SRT and therefore more likely to score runs under pressure and even Dravid’s ‘Wall’ like defence was exposed by Asif and co. in the third test. SRT does seem to freeze on the big occasions. And if you disagree raise stats to disprove me and I will rest my case. Give me other examples of runs he’s scored in a knock-out ODI match or in the second innings of a test in a match-saving or match-winning cause.

Tendu is different in many senses. Not only does he keep his place in the team without performing he is also reverse ageing. At 16 (on debut), he played like a 38 year old and was struggling to score runs and needed forever to make his first hundred. At 24, he played like a 32 year old and was at the peak of his batting prowess (whatever that means) and was scoring hundreds against Kasperowicz, Paul Reiffel, etc. Now at 32, he is batting his a 9 year old and getting out to deliveries wide outside the off stump. Looks like he is REVERSE AGEING. First of all, shame on all Indians who booed him.

To be frank, I rate Lara higher than Tendu. One more instance of Tendu choking A lesser known instance is the Barbados Test of 1997 - a win for India could have changed its cricket history. The Indians needed just 120 runs for a win. As captain, it was Sachin Tendulkar who had to show the way to his entire team. But he scored just four runs and India lost to a sub-standard West Indies team. The one that sticks out of course is the 1999 Chennai Test against Pakistan when Tendulkar scored 136 but India lost by 12 runs. Tendulkar’s dismissal came when India needed 16 runs to win.

His departure triggered a famous collapse and ended in an infamous defeat for the home team. There are times when the match is delicately poised or the opposition team has taken a slender lead which could be negated with one solid knock. There has not been one match winning chase with Tendulkar carrying his bat right through the end of the match. Just recall the way Brian Lara batted against Australia and won the match chasing 300-plus runs with the help of No.11 batsman Courtney Walsh.

Inzamam had played similar roles for Pakistan. While leading a young batting side on his broad shoulders. This kind of stuff is missing from Tendulkar’s bat. There have been quite a few second innings knocks but he has never quite converted them into match-saving or match-winning efforts which determine the way we remember him. Tendulkar’s centuries don’t decide a match in the way Dravid’s or Sehwag’s do.Jeff Lacy the American boxer was all hyped up in his own country just like Sachin Tendulkar is hyped up in India and else and what do both have in common they both fail to live up to the hype.

I think Kumble, he has won many matches for India but has not got the super star status that Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly or even Sehwag enjoy. He may not have the flair/popularity of Sachin. He may not have the charisma of Dravid. He may not have the flamboyance of Sehwag/Dhoni YET, time and Again he has come to the rescue of Team India when it needed most. 35 Tests where he has played a match winner's role has seen India win.