Against Pakistan his average was 35
Context..context context !!
For one,Tendulkar was debuting against Pakistan. A debut average of 35 is good against any opposition even today- unless they happen to be BD or Zim.
For two, Tendulkar was sixteen.
For a sixteen year old to finish a series with 35 average in TEST cricket on 80s wickets is exemplary.
For three, Tendulkar was facing down Imran, Wasim, Waqar and Qadir.
Ie, an attack superior to any today- yes, that includes a jaded Imran ( who was in context, better than Pollock is today) and a debuting Waqar ( Waqar early years = stunning speed and reverse swing).
Ie, so for a sixteen year old debutant batting on 80s pitches against one of the best bowling attacks ever to take the field together, it was a great great performance.
It's also much harder to be a great bowler in today's game...
Not really. McGrath,Murali,Warne, Ntini, Bond, Asif are all having good times or were until very recently. And neither of them save for maybe Murali has been bowling at 'hithero unknown heights'. Ie, McGrath's bowling 2 years ago is no different than his bowling 7 years ago. Neither are his success levels. Yes, i expect performances to slip somewhat for bowlers but as i keep saying, the inverse (as you imply it) would be true if and only if pitch quality was the only factor that changed.
It is a fact that today's bowling attacks are slip-shod and bowling attacks for the past five-six years have been utterly rubbish or possibly at an alltime low in Tests.
Whether you like it or not, it is a fact that 90s bowlers such as Ambrose, Walsh,Bishop, Donald, Wasim,Waqar,Mushie and Saqlain have not been replaced even remotely well by their teams.
Its not just a question of the conditions stacked against the bowlers, its also the fact that bowlers themselves suck utterly today.
Take now for example : At this point of time in test cricket, the best pace bowler going around is Ntini followed by a less-than-20-match-experienced Asif, followed byClark, Flintoff and Vaas probably ( Pollock next).
This kind of shallow pace bowling quality hasnt been seen since i dunno when.
I can say that atleast 60s era and onwards, at no point was pace bowling attack weak enough that the top 5 were of Ntini-Vaas-Flintoff callibre with two total newbies in the midst.
The reasons i consider Ponting to be inferior to Tendulkar and Lara is the same reason I consider Dravid, Kallis, Yousuf to be lesser batsmen than Tendy-Lara.
Ponting has had the easiest time of them all because not only does he bat in the strongest batting lineup, he also had the best team to play for.
Ponting is also not relatively as dominant of the field as Tendulkar or Lara were during their heydeys. ( I've already demonstrated this by comparing how many people were in the 50+ or 45-50 range when Tendulkar or Lara were averaging 60-ish compared to Ponting and today)
ie, he simply hasn't done enough to suggest he is in Tendulkar-Lara category.
In one-dayers, its pretty much a done deal. Not only does Ponting not come close to Tendulkar's strike rate, consistency, century-making overall, he isnt anywhere close to Tendulkar of the last 10-12 years running.
People who look at overall stats do not realize that Tendulkar's greatness is not just in the fact that he scores runs and centuries better than anyone else at a great strike rate to boot. Overall stats completely masks the fact that Tendulkar was a poor ODI player at the first part of his career and that since 1994, he's been utterly dominant of the field in a way Ponting isn't either.
Just about the only thing Ponting has as a player over Tendulkar is that Ponting is a way way better ground-fielder than Tendulkar is.
And don't tell me it has to do with pitches 
