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Sachin Tendulkar vs Malcolm Marshall

Who is the greater test cricketer?


  • Total voters
    40

HouHsiaoHsien

International Debutant
Marshall by the smallest of margins. Tendulkar has longevity, but Marshall had the insane peak of 6 WPM while bowling in very competitive attacks from 1983-88, when he excelled in most countries, and won his side crucial series. Plus Marshall’s record of sub 24 averages in nearly all countries is somewhat more impressive than Sachin’s 40+ averages everywhere. Marshall’s batting>Tendulkar’s bowling slightly.
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
Marshall by the smallest of margins. Tendulkar has longevity, but Marshall had the insane peak of 6 WPM while bowling in very competitive attacks from 1983-88, when he excelled in most countries, and won his side crucial series. Plus Marshall’s record of sub 24 averages in nearly all countries is somewhat more impressive than Sachin’s 40+ averages everywhere. Marshall’s batting>Tendulkar’s bowling slightly.
Tendulkar IMO played a better quality of bowling generally in his career than Marshall did vs bats. Marshall pretty much only had India as a reasonably strong batting side. Hence Tendulkar to me gets ahead.
 

capt_Luffy

Cricketer Of The Year
Tendulkar IMO played a better quality of bowling generally in his career than Marshall did vs bats. Marshall pretty much only had India as a reasonably strong batting side. Hence Tendulkar to me gets ahead.
Marshall only player against India in two series though; the first one was his debut during WSC, he was an inexperienced unprepared bowler and was mostly unsuccessful. And the second is arguably one of his best, and the series that led Marshall from not being regular in the side to being the leader of the pack.
 

OverratedSanity

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Tendulkar IMO played a better quality of bowling generally in his career than Marshall did vs bats. Marshall pretty much only had India as a reasonably strong batting side. Hence Tendulkar to me gets ahead.
It's actually very interesting that the "how good were the bowlers he faced" thing used very often to evaluate batsmen but "how good were the batting lineups he faced" seems like it's not talked about too much when it comes to bowlers. I wonder why that is.
 

HouHsiaoHsien

International Debutant
Tendulkar IMO played a better quality of bowling generally in his career than Marshall did vs bats. Marshall pretty much only had India as a reasonably strong batting side. Hence Tendulkar to me gets ahead.
Fair, but to me a 24 bowling average is comparable to a 50 bat average, so still Marshall’s record across most countries is a tiny bit more impressive.
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
It's actually very interesting that the "how good were the bowlers he faced" thing used very often to evaluate batsmen but "how good were the batting lineups he faced" seems like it's not talked about too much when it comes to bowlers. I wonder why that is.
It is though in terms of the best sides that an ATG faced, like India for Warne or WI for Imran, but not in terms of general strength.
 

capt_Luffy

Cricketer Of The Year
Fair, but to me a 24 bowling average is comparable to a 50 bat average, so still Marshall’s record across most countries is a tiny bit more impressive.
I think an average of 22.5 is more similar to 50; 24 is more like 45 to me; which Tendulkar also has everywhere but Pakistan; where he also has that on removing his debut series at 16 vs Waqar, Wasim, Imran and Qadir (the player's peaks didn't coincidence, or I would say that it probably was the best on paper attack alongside the quartet; and if we aren't counting Marshall's 78 India tour, without which it rises to overall 24 in India, it's only fair we do the same for Sachin.)
 
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subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
I think an average of 22.5 is more similar to 50; 24 is more like 45 to me; which Tendulkar also has everywhere but Pakistan; where he is also has that except for his debut series at 16 vs Waqar, Wasim, Imran and Qadir (the player's peaks didn't coincidence, or I would say that probably was the best on paper attack alongside the quartet; and if we aren't counting Marshall's 78 India tour, without which it rises to overcome 24 in India, it's only fair we do the same for Sachin.)
Averaging 40 plus, mostly 45 plus, against and in nine countries over 20 years and 200 tests is a more impressive display of allround ability.

Also, Marshall didn't average that well in NZ. If we are going to discount that because it was one series, then we can discount Pakistan and WI for Hadlee, by which Hadlee too becomes statistically as well-rounded as Marshall.
 

HouHsiaoHsien

International Debutant
Averaging 40 plus, mostly 45 plus, against and in nine countries over 20 years and 200 tests is a more impressive display of allround ability.

Also, Marshall didn't average that well in NZ. If we are going to discount that because it was one series, then we can discount Pakistan and WI for Hadlee, by which Hadlee too becomes statistically as well-rounded as Marshall.
Marshall played only 3 matches in NZ and there also was mediocre, not bad like Hadlee in Pak
 

HouHsiaoHsien

International Debutant
I think an average of 22.5 is more similar to 50; 24 is more like 45 to me; which Tendulkar also has everywhere but Pakistan; where he is also has that except for his debut series at 16 vs Waqar, Wasim, Imran and Qadir (the player's peaks didn't coincidence, or I would say that probably was the best on paper attack alongside the quartet; and if we aren't counting Marshall's 78 India tour, without which it rises to overcome 24 in India, it's only fair we do the same for Sachin.)
Personally I think averaging 24 as a bowler is tougher than averaging 45 as a batter, but even then Marshall is perfect according to all bowling metrics: average, SR, WPM, economy etc
 

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