Steve Smith vs Sachin Tendulkar

[Spark]

South Africa have been better than England in the last 30 years. And playing South Africa has been just as iconic. Ponting was really really good against them iirc, Smith not so. This kind of balances the scale a little bit. Not to mention Ponting was really dominant in ODIs too which amount to something as well. (Top legends have to be able to adapt to different formats and succeed).

No it hasn't. Not even a little bit. England and India are the two high profile series to the Aus cricketing public, by a mile. Go look at crowd attendances for those Ashes and BGT vs attendances for SA if you don't believe me. Ponting's exploits in SA may be noteworthy to cricket tragics, but 99% of cricket viewers in Australia would take Smith's 2019 Ashes any day over any number of runs in SA.

ODIs are irrelevant to this particular discussion, which is about Tests.

 

[The_CricketUmpire]

South Africa have been better than England in the last 30 years. And playing South Africa has been just as iconic. Ponting was really really good against them iirc, Smith not so. This kind of balances the scale a little bit. Not to mention Ponting was really dominant in ODIs too which amount to something as well. (Top legends have to be able to adapt to different formats and succeed).

Well said.

 

[centurymaker]

South Africa were the undisputed No.1 side in the world for several years. Even before that, there were always No. 2 or at worst No. 3. Just because they have fallen off recently, doesn't mean we should forget about them.

They won 3 consecutive series against Australia in Australia ffs! And you think playing the No.1 side in the world wasn't considered a high profile series? ?

So why did Steve Smith and Warner resort to cheating in the 2018 series, if playing South Africa in South Africa wasn't a big deal?!

If it was just another series, they would have never done whatever they did. Not a chance.

 

[Spark]

South Africa were the undisputed No.1 side in the world for several years. Even before that, there were always No. 2 or at worst No. 3. Just because they have fallen off recently, doesn't mean we should forget about them.

They won 3 consecutive series against Australia in Australia ffs! And you think playing the No.1 side in the world wasn't considered a high profile series? ?

So why did Steve Smith and Warner resort to cheating in the 2018 series, if playing South Africa in South Africa wasn't a big deal?!

If it was just another series, they would have never done whatever they did. Not a chance.

You didn't say "high profile". You said "iconic". Only India and England get that status amongst the cricketing public here. I know that clashes with your long running campaign to paint Smith as an overrated hack stretching back to 2013, but it's the cold truth. Achievements against England and India in those countries will always be given higher weight than achievements in South Africa. Ponting's innings at Old Trafford is remembered more than everything he did in SA for a reason; same with Smith in 2019.

 

[andruid]

Who was the better part time bowler would also be fun.

 

[Kirkut]

If both had to face peak Ambrose from one end and peak Donald at the other, I will give it to Tendulkar here.

If we simply compare on the appetite to score runs, it's Smith easily..

 

[Coronis]

If both had to face peak Ambrose from one end and peak Donald at the other, I will give it to Tendulkar here.

If we simply compare on the appetite to score runs, it's Smith easily..

No way you’d really pick the guy who actually faced the two bowlers rather than the guy that didn’t? You crazy bastard

 

[Chrish]

Ambrose never really played india all that much, did he? Would have loved to see him fire in all cylinders against us.

 

[Kirkut]

No way you’d really pick the guy who actually faced the two bowlers rather than the guy that didn’t? You crazy bastard

Nah, just intuitively felt he would handle those freak bowlers better.

 

[CodeOfWisden]

As an Indian, for me this comparison makes no sense.

I have seen Sachin feck up too many chances when pressure was on, he is nowhere near Smith as a match winner in tests.

Smith is Statistically better, way more clutch and also a dominating player.

Sachins modus operandi was scoring one century on every tour which helped him to maintain his average but never created that much of an impact.

On the other hand Smith dominates tour, making 500+ runs which creates the difference between winning and losing.

Let's say on two away tours -
Batsman A scores at 50 avg in both series (Sachin), thus not making any sizeable impact and ends up losing both the series.

Batsman B scores at 70avg in one series and 30 in another, winning one series and losing the other.

I'll take batsman B anyday.

 

[Kirkut]

As an Indian, for me this comparison makes no sense.

I have seen Sachin feck up too many chances when pressure was on, he is nowhere near Smith as a match winner in tests.

Smith is Statistically better, way more clutch and also a dominating player.

Sachins modus operandi was scoring one century on every tour which helped him to maintain his average but never created that much of an impact.

On the other hand Smith dominates tour, making 500+ runs which creates the difference between winning and losing.

Let's say on two away tours -
Batsman A scores at 50 avg in both series (Sachin), thus not making any sizeable impact and ends up losing both the series.

Batsman B scores at 70avg in one series and 30 in another, winning one series and losing the other.

I'll take batsman B anyday.

That's a very watered down understanding of test cricket. Sure, it is not necessarily true that Tendulkar would have been a match winner had Bumrah, Shami, Siraj played in the 1990s, but expecting a batsman to have a single handed impact on a test series is unrealistic.

Dravid's best series in my opinion is his last tour of England, but the series result does not diminish his batting quality.

 

[Sunil1z]

Tendulkar also didn’t have very good Test record vs SA before 2010. He scored 4 Test centuries in 5 Test vs SA in 2010 and 2011 and improved his record versus them . Give Smith another chance in SA and I believe he too will improve his record versus them .

 

[Raz0r6ack]

Pretty crazy that if Smith ever tours South Africa again when his in his twilight years and ends the tour averaging sub 40 in South Africa then that will be forever used to disqualify him.

 

[Sunil1z]

Pretty crazy that if Smith ever tours South Africa again when his in his twilight years and ends the tour averaging sub 40 in South Africa then that will be forever used to disqualify him.

Why ? No one disqualifies Sobers because of his average in NZ .

 

[OverratedSanity]

Tendulkar also didn’t have very good Test record vs SA before 2010. He scored 4 Test centuries in 5 Test vs SA in 2010 and 2011 and improved his record versus them . Give Smith another chance in SA and I believe he too will improve his record versus them .

Those 4 hundreds weren't just normal hundreds against OK attacks that pumped his average up tbf. They were against Steyn at his very best and Morkel who was in great form at the time.

 

[Sunil1z]

Pretty crazy that if Smith ever tours South Africa again when his in his twilight years and ends the tour averaging sub 40 in South Africa then that will be forever used to disqualify him.

Aus will tour SA in OCT 2026 .

 

[OverratedSanity]

South Africa were the undisputed No.1 side in the world for several years. Even before that, there were always No. 2 or at worst No. 3. Just because they have fallen off recently, doesn't mean we should forget about them.

They won 3 consecutive series against Australia in Australia ffs! And you think playing the No.1 side in the world wasn't considered a high profile series? ?

So why did Steve Smith and Warner resort to cheating in the 2018 series, if playing South Africa in South Africa wasn't a big deal?!

If it was just another series, they would have never done whatever they did. Not a chance.

South Africa have been a pretty middling side since 2015 or so with only occasional flashes of greatness. I don't think that means his meh record vs sa should be completely overlooked but he actually did better against SA when they were stronger. The 2014 series in SA was one of the first times people began taking him seriously as a "best in the world " candidate.

 

[Sunil1z]

Those 4 hundreds weren't just normal hundreds against OK attacks that pumped his average up tbf. They were against Steyn at his very best and Morkel who was in great form at the time.

IND and SA were competing for no.1 ranking in both the series .

 

[ankitj]

I have voted for Smith. He is ridiculous.

 

[Coronis]

I have voted for Smith. He is ridiculous.

I’ll still wait for the end of his career but that gap is ever shrinking.