****OFFICIAL**** Lara vs Tendulkar Debate Thread

[Benny2k1]

Quote From Cricinfo where all Australian players voted for the most dangerous oposition.....


Brian Lara has been voted the most dangerous opposition batsman, ahead of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, by Australian cricketers. Andrew Flintoff, Australia’s Ashes tormentor, was voted the most dangerous opposition bowler and Muttiah Muralitharan was rated second in that list, according to a report in The Australian.
Lara polled 55 per cent of the votes, while Tendulkar only got 25 per cent, and Dravid 20 per cent. While Ricky Ponting was regarded as the best batsman in Australia by his fellow cricketers, Shane Warne beat Glenn McGrath to claim the best-bowler honours. Mike Hussey, the Western Australia batsman, was the best domestic batsman ahead of Brad Hodge and Darren Lehmann. Andy Bichel was voted the best domestic bowler; Mick Lewis from Victoria was second ahead of Shaun Tait. Stuart MacGill was clearly regarded the best spinner.
South Australia’s Callum Ferguson was considered the most promising batsman, his team-mate Dan Cullen the most promising spinner, Queensland’s Mitchell Johnson the most promising fast bowler and another Queenslander, Chris Hartley, the best young wicketkeeper.

 

[silentstriker]

Quote From Cricinfo where all Australian players voted for the most dangerous oposition.....


Brian Lara has been voted the most dangerous opposition batsman, ahead of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, by Australian cricketers. Andrew Flintoff, Australia’s Ashes tormentor, was voted the most dangerous opposition bowler and Muttiah Muralitharan was rated second in that list, according to a report in The Australian.
Lara polled 55 per cent of the votes, while Tendulkar only got 25 per cent, and Dravid 20 per cent. While Ricky Ponting was regarded as the best batsman in Australia by his fellow cricketers, Shane Warne beat Glenn McGrath to claim the best-bowler honours. Mike Hussey, the Western Australia batsman, was the best domestic batsman ahead of Brad Hodge and Darren Lehmann. Andy Bichel was voted the best domestic bowler; Mick Lewis from Victoria was second ahead of Shaun Tait. Stuart MacGill was clearly regarded the best spinner.
South Australia’s Callum Ferguson was considered the most promising batsman, his team-mate Dan Cullen the most promising spinner, Queensland’s Mitchell Johnson the most promising fast bowler and another Queenslander, Chris Hartley, the best young wicketkeeper.

"Dangerous" is a bit vague. Lara, on his day, can be more destructive. The problem is, 'his days' don't come around as often as Tendulkars.

"Best" might very well give you different results.

 

[Top_Cat]

"Dangerous" is a bit vague. Lara, on his day, can be more destructive. The problem is, 'his days' don't come around as often as Tendulkars.

No longer the case; Lara has played far better than Tendy in the last two years. Lara doesn't appear like he's 'lost it' like Tendy has (Lara's recent double ton in Adelaide a case-in-point). And this from an unabashed Tendulkar fan.

Myself, I've never been able to separate them; For a while there, I thought Sachin was better (especially through Lara's relatively barren patch in the late 90's) but having had a look at it closer, I just can't bring myself to say which one is better.

For mine, Sachin is technical perfection, playing the way we'd all love to play. Front-elbow high, bat straight, etc. Can be a bit more unorthodox on occasions, such as when he was belting Warnie over cow corner regularly in 1997 but generally, the juice with Tendulkar is in the way he makes playing correctly look so easy.

Lara is artistic perfection. His technique has strong under-pinnings of orthodoxy (at his best, he plays as straight as Tendulkar and is rock-solid in defence) and the perfect example of this was in his 277 at Sydney; just about every boundary was along the carpet and there were a lot of them! But it's his unorthodoxy which makes him great. He and Sachin are both fairly aggressive but Lara takes more risks with his shots, especially outside off-stump. And the Lara hip-flick is just genius at work, really.

So yeah, both artists. Just different types. And just as good as each other.

The analogy I've always used was this; if they were oil-and-paint artists, I would imagine Sachin as being the type who would paint a picture and render each minute detail perfectly, using vibrant colours to highlight the important parts of the image. Lara would throw paint at the canvas, kick it onto the floor, urinate on it and then set it on fire, claiming he's making a political point about environmental destruction. If they were classical musicians, Sachin would be Chopin whereas Lara would be Pagannini or Liszt. You see where I'm going.

 

[aussie]

The analogy I've always used was this; if they were oil-and-paint artists, I would imagine Sachin as being the type who would paint a picture and render each minute detail perfectly, using vibrant colours to highlight the important parts of the image. Lara would throw paint at the canvas, kick it onto the floor, urinate on it and then set it on fire, claiming he's making a political point about environmental destruction. If they were classical musicians, Sachin would be Chopin whereas Lara would be Pagannini or Liszt. You see where I'm going.

, priceless great anology T_C

 

[silentstriker]

No longer the case; Lara has played far better than Tendy in the last two years. Lara doesn't appear like he's 'lost it' like Tendy has (Lara's recent double ton in Adelaide a case-in-point). And this from an unabashed Tendulkar fan.

Yes, no doubt. Lara has definatly been the better batsman in the past two years. I hope Sachin hasn't lost it, but going by the last two years only, Lara is clearly ahead. Mind you, I'm not sure I'd have either of them on their current form in my side, but Lara has been able to mix in the big score once in a while, in the middle of his failures and thus keep his average up. And Sachin hasn't been able to do that, and his average has been dropping a little bit.

 

[C_C]

Quote From Cricinfo where all Australian players voted for the most dangerous oposition.....


Brian Lara has been voted the most dangerous opposition batsman, ahead of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, by Australian cricketers. Andrew Flintoff, Australia’s Ashes tormentor, was voted the most dangerous opposition bowler and Muttiah Muralitharan was rated second in that list, according to a report in The Australian.
Lara polled 55 per cent of the votes, while Tendulkar only got 25 per cent, and Dravid 20 per cent. While Ricky Ponting was regarded as the best batsman in Australia by his fellow cricketers, Shane Warne beat Glenn McGrath to claim the best-bowler honours. Mike Hussey, the Western Australia batsman, was the best domestic batsman ahead of Brad Hodge and Darren Lehmann. Andy Bichel was voted the best domestic bowler; Mick Lewis from Victoria was second ahead of Shaun Tait. Stuart MacGill was clearly regarded the best spinner.
South Australia’s Callum Ferguson was considered the most promising batsman, his team-mate Dan Cullen the most promising spinner, Queensland’s Mitchell Johnson the most promising fast bowler and another Queenslander, Chris Hartley, the best young wicketkeeper.

I couldnt care less what all Australian ( or Indian or any other nationality) players thought- that is getting into the domains of public opinion and a FC cricketer's opinion who's never faced Lara is no better than mine or your's.
If opinions are to be given any value(and i assign nominal values to them anyways) I only count ones who've played against the said player and that too at international levels.
And in that aspect, you'd find that most australians who've played against both Lara and Tendulkar internationally hold Tendulkar in higher esteem.

 

[marc71178]

I couldnt care less what all Australian ( or Indian or any other nationality) players thought- that is getting into the domains of public opinion and a FC cricketer's opinion who's never faced Lara is no better than mine or your's.

So how come not that many posts ago you were using what opposition players have said to support your case?

 

[C_C]

So how come not that many posts ago you were using what opposition players have said to support your case?

Read the post more thoroughly.
The answer is contained in there.

 

[pasag]

I just wonder when those interviews were done. If it was coming straight off a WI tour or an Indian tour, the players would most likely answer the one they have most recently played as it is fresh in their minds.

Becuase of that I wouldn't place much value on it. Ten years down the line, after a player retires and has had time to reflect, then it is a completley different story.

 

[vic_orthdox]

I just wonder when those interviews were done. If it was coming straight off a WI tour or an Indian tour, the players would most likely answer the one they have most recently played as it is fresh in their minds.

Becuase of that I wouldn't place much value on it. Ten years down the line, after a player retires and has had time to reflect, then it is a completley different story.

If I remember, it was within the last year. Could have been either side of the WI coming here, I'm not sure.

Also pretty sure that it was all voted on by the contracted Australian players at the time. Not just a survey of all the FC players, or anything like that...

 

[honestbharani]

I am not sure if Steve Waugh said Sachin was better than Lara post 2002. I clearly heard him say once that Lara was better than Sachin in fact. It was probably the 2003 tour of West Indies by Australia. May have just been PR, but then again, most of the tim Steve said Sachin was better was to Indian journalists as well. Might have been PR back then as well. Going by past players alone doesn't lead us anywhere in this. They seem to be split right down the middle on this issue. 50% of the guys say Sachin and another 50% say Lara.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

What about those of us that rate them as equals?

 

[Benny2k1]

If I remember, it was within the last year. Could have been either side of the WI coming here, I'm not sure.

Also pretty sure that it was all voted on by the contracted Australian players at the time. Not just a survey of all the FC players, or anything like that...

Am pretty sure it was Just before the West Indies tour to AUS and it was the contracted Aussie players.

And as for the " those who rate them as equals" I think that thats the best way to look at it, Although all my posts are for lara i still say sachin is one of the greatest batsmen ever, jus dont like all the "sachin is clearly the best" comments when he isnt head and shoulders above Lara.
They are both great but just my personal preference tends to go towards lara.

Rite now when they Come into bat you still feel at anytime lara could go big, I dont get that feeling with tendulkar any more.

 

[Jono]

What about those of us that rate them as equals?

Firing squad.

From what I've read, McGrath rates Tendulkar better than Lara as he believes he's mentally stronger, and I've read Warne rates Sachin better to, but that's understandable since Sachin has smashed Warne to all corners all too often whereas McGrath is on a more even playing field with both players (which is why I rate McGrath higher than Warne but that's whole other story).

 

[aussie]

From what i have heard from Australian players i know for a fact Warne rates Tendulkar higher i remember distinctly after the 98 tour Warne said that while bowling to Tendulkar in the series he felt like he wanted to dig a whole a crawl into it.

McGrath & Gillespie have rated Tendulkar higher since they say he is mentally thougher than Lara & doesn't get worked up like Lara does in tight situations.

 

[pasag]

From what i have heard from Australian players i know for a fact Warne rates Tendulkar higher i remember distinctly after the 98 tour Warne said that while bowling to Tendulkar in the series he felt like he wanted to dig a whole a crawl into it.

McGrath & Gillespie have rated Tendulkar higher since they say he is mentally thougher than Lara & doesn't get worked up like Lara does in tight situations.

Mate, you just said the same thing as Jono

 

[marc71178]

Also pretty sure that it was all voted on by the contracted Australian players at the time. Not just a survey of all the FC players, or anything like that...

The fact that only 3 players were nominated, and they all got multiples of 5 suggested it was a far smaller sample than some people like to think.

Hence the double standards are clear.

 

[Jono]

To be fair though, the Australians rated Flintoff better than Murali also didn't they?

I think it'd be hard for any cricket fan to argue that Freddy is the superior bowler. Clearly there was some post-Ashes memories stuck in their thoughts when the questioning occurred.

 

[honestbharani]

Firing squad.

From what I've read, McGrath rates Tendulkar better than Lara as he believes he's mentally stronger, and I've read Warne rates Sachin better to, but that's understandable since Sachin has smashed Warne to all corners all too often whereas McGrath is on a more even playing field with both players (which is why I rate McGrath higher than Warne but that's whole other story).

In the most recent interview of McGrath that I read, he rated them equal. He rated Sachin higher right after the 2001 tour, but I don't think he said that anytime recently. AT least, I haven't read that interview.

 

[honestbharani]

To be fair though, the Australians rated Flintoff better than Murali also didn't they?

I think it'd be hard for any cricket fan to argue that Freddy is the superior bowler. Clearly there was some post-Ashes memories stuck in their thoughts when the questioning occurred.

I feel the same reg. what Warne said about Sachin. And the same can be said about what Murali says about Lara. That is why we shouldn't read too much into the contemporary players ratings of their peers, esp. bowlers on batters and vice versa.