I disagree. Tendulkar is easily the best since Bradman. Because we never knew how Hobbs would handle the pressure of so many matches, so many tours, ODIs, pressure, schedule, SL spinners, etc etc etc, over such a long period as Tendulkar did.I do not think not having a triple century is such a big factor when comparing Sachin and Lara. It is just a statistical oddity that can be used. I have not heard any one running down Hobbs because he has just one double century (211 against a weak South African attack). We have here voted him by a huge margin the greatest batsman (after Bradman) of all times.
However your opinion is to be respected.
Fully agree.SJS said:No you cant separate such great players by statistics.
Conversly, Lara's propensity to shuffle extravagantly has landed him in trouble by becoming prone to lbw or caught behind early on. I agree Lara had good judgement about his off stump and perhaps never got bowled misjudging the incoming delivery. However, he was more prone to the waft outside off stump because his shuffle enabled him to reach out to deliveries more than often, although it also opened up scoring opportunities.SJS said:I rate Lara slightly (just slightly) above Sachin in Test cricket and the reason for that is in thier game and technique.
Lara always has had a great sense of where his off stump lies. So has Sachin but not as good as Lara. The reason for that is in the unambiguous and early movement by Lara when playing back. watch any video of Lara and you will see him going right back and across, on to his off stump when he goes back. This makes it absolutely clear to him where his feet are in relation to the stump and the decision to play the ball or to leave it becomes that much easier.
Tendulkar indeed had a serious problem with the incoming delivery, and for a major part of his career, I think till around the early 2000s, used to get regularly bowled or caught behind to deliveries those seamed in from a length (like Ishant's length). I can remember him getting pawned by Abdul Razzack in the 99-00 downunder ODI series with this length. To his credit, since then, he has worked on the same, and the results are there that he has become a better judge of the offstump and does not commit to the front foot as he used to do early on.
Again, to repeat myself, he has corrected it to a great extent since 2000s. I don't think that is an issue to be debated much now.The backfoot play also has another aspect to it. Sobers was another great backfoot player (as are all true greats as is Sachin) and you do not see too many pictures of Lara and Sobers going forward to defend. They would prefer to go forward to drive only otherwise go back so that they can defend attack or let go with more certainty. Sachin goes forward slightly more and thus we see him drawn to the ball that may leave him outside the off stump. Its not that it doesn't happen to the others but Sachin looks a more likely candidate for it.
Agree and disagree. Sachin used to be a backfoot player for most of his very early career (1989-1993). This can be evidenced from the fact that all his 100s during this period came overseas, in England, Australia and South Africa. As a brilliant batsman he is, he quickly became extremely proficient with his front foot play, perhaps attributable to the fact that he started opening for India from 1994, and his stroke play was at it's best when he was attacking on the front foot. The front foot reliance slowly crept into his game, till such time he became so reliant on that it started to become a weakness. The nadir of this came in the 2003-04 downunder series, when he was constantly getting out trying to drive on the front foot. But again the champ showed his masterclass by overhauling his entire game within days, and scripted a superb double hundred at Sydney literally relying on back foot and leg side play.It wasn't like that always. Sachin went back and across much more in his very early days. One day cricket and then opening in ODI's made him go for those shots off the front foot which went crashing between backward point to extra cover even if slightly short of a length.
Hmm.. Valid point. However Tendulkar deliberately cut down this habit of dancing down the track and hitting spinners over long on because of the regular injuries he suffered since the start of 1999. His short stature, coupled with the heavy bat meant that everytime he played the shot, it put tremendous strain on the back, and the groin. To counter this, and to extend his career, he cut down the stroke, till his body healed, which took years, and instead used alternative but neverthless equally effective strokes such as the paddle, and the inside out cover drive/loft to the spinners. A refreshing change since Kumble took over, is that Tendulkar appears to have recovered more or less fully from the injury, and is confident enough to attempt that stroke. This has resulted him playing the shot many a time since then.Another difference which has crept into Sachin's game (in the latter part of his career) is his reluctance to step out to spinners. But one has seen so much of it from it for almost ten years from him that I do not give it that much importance, Nevertheless, Lara, like Sobers before him ,continued to dance down the track to spinners right till his last day in the game. Same is not true for Sachin for many years now.