WHY do they say this?

[smash84]

wow........Ikki and bagapath agreeing on something............not good for a good debate

 

[Ikki]

Actually, I think baga and I are closer in our opinions than our debates may imply. I find discussion with him far more fruitful and dignified. Has a lot of class.

 

[Burgey]

bradman played for a country ravaged by the great depression. michael jordan played in an era of great prosperity and success for his native country. tendulkar plays for a nation taking baby steps towards becoming a truly responsible global force while being pulled down by corruption and over population.

the point is, great sportsmen/women, like great artists and writers and filmmakers, work for themselves. they may bask in the love showered by their supporters or agonize over rejection by the same masses. but it doesnt matter who they play for because they do the thing they are very good at it and they do it only for themselves.

so.... a billion people expecting tendulkar to perform will not matter to him deep down. he will be more worried about the expectation of the 10 people, his teammates, whose respect is more important for any sportsman playing a team sport. but even deeper down, all that he will want is to play to his potential; meaning he plays cricket only to please himself and himself alone. kurosawa made movies for himself. mozart composed music for himself. bradman batted for himself. what others expect, and how many constitute these others, dont really matter while judging the performance standard of a sportsman.

This. Quality post IMO.

 

[Teja.]

About the entire 'pressure' thing, It's a great personal trait to have but I don't particularly see it's relevance while comparing the value of cricketers which IMO, should be the criteria for their greatness or otherwise. Sachin and Lara's ability to handle outward pressure(Haircut mobbing and all), like their kindness or charity and all that jazz does not come in at all as a contextual background for their achievements for mine.

Anyway, It's quite silly that people try to differentiate the pressure caused by 300 million people from the pressure caused by a billion. The entire 'pressure' view also punishes people like Sehwag who couldn't give a hoot if people would rage if he got out slogging a bad ball at 97.

It's also pretty arrogant to shoot down GIMH's shouts about pressure felt by other people, I imagine the pressure felt by Afridi must be just as immense. Hell, The pressure felt by Ganguly would've been colossal as well.

P.S. :- Ily too Corrin.

 

[bagapath]

Actually, I think baga and I are closer in our opinions than our debates may imply. I find discussion with him far more fruitful and dignified. Has a lot of class.

I disagree

 

[keeper]

Well for every fan of his there are guys who go around pointing at the lack of match-winning centuries.

Really? I didn't know that. Is there any statistical assertion for this point of view?

(Unless it's a joke I've missed)

 

[keeper]

Sensible posts by bagapath and teja I think. Pressure, and how it affects any one person, is a complex and individual business (and not one that has to be negative).

Forgetting comparisons between players I do think that Tendulkar has dealt with his own individual pressure very well. Unless I've missed it his demeanour remains pretty controlled and appropriate and I think he deserves some credit for that.

Just googled this...

Sachin Tendulkar's Hairstyles Since Childhood

...and on some occasions it looks like it is the hairdresser who needed mobbing, not Tendulkar himself

 

[salman85]

Modern day batsmen with 25+ centuries.For the stats haters,ignore,for the stats lover,drool.

Tendulkar
51 centuries
20 in matches won (39%)
11 in matches lost (22%)
20 in matches drawn (39%)

Steve Waugh:
32 centuries
25 in matches won (78%)
5 in matches lost (16%)
2 in matches drawn (6%)

Brian Lara:
34 centuries
8 in matches won (23%)
14 in matches lost (41%)
12 in matches drawn (36%)

Kallis
40 centuries
19 in matches won (47%)
3 in matches lost (8%)
18 in matches drawn (45%)

Ponting
39 centuries
28 in matches won (71%)
4 in matches lost (11%)
7 in matches drawn (18%)

Inzamam
25 centuries
17 in matches won (68%)
2 in matches lost (8%)
6 in matches drawn (24%)

Dravid
31 centuries
13 in matches won (41%)
1 in matches lost (3%)
17 in matches drawn (56%)

Jayawardene
28 centuries
14 in matches won (50%)
3 in matches lost (11%)
11 in matches drawn (39%)

Hayden
30 centuries
23 in matches won (76%)
2 in matches lost (6%)
5 in matches lost (18%)

 

[sledger]

If india had lost, people there would've started burining down stuff etc.

That rating was doube the amount of the quater-final between india-aus btw.

Here's the best rating I could find for england. Pretty low in comparison.
TV ratings: 2m Sky viewers see England clinch the Ashes | Media | guardian.co.uk

Another spurious claim.

And again, the "best you can do" isn't the most convincing way of backing up your point after bandying it around as if it's a cast iron fact.

 

[Furball]

Onto your claiming that number of hundreds is a Bradmanlike comparison to make. Well no, it isn't. Maybe if you tried hundreds per innings we'd be on the road to somewhere logical. Alas, without checking, one suspects the Don would top that quite comfortably.

Here you go - all the batsmen in the history of the game to have scored at least 2,000 runs at an average of 50. I've even thrown in their respective First Class numbers in order to fairly compare the older players when First Class cricket was both more played and more important. I've even thrown in the quickest batsmen in history to 7,000 Test runs, and compared them with Bradman's 6,996.

Batsman            Runs     Ave    100    Inns/100    FC 100   Inns/100

[B]DG Bradman         6996    99.94    29        2.76       117       2.89[/B]
RG Pollock         2256    60.97     7        5.86        64       6.83
GA Headley         2190    60.73    10        4.00        33       4.97
H Sutcliffe        4555    60.73    16        5.25       151       7.27
KF Barrington      6806    58.67    20        6.55        76      10.93
ED Weekes          4455    58.61    15        5.40        36       6.69
WR Hammond         7249    58.45    22        6.36       167       6.02
GS Sobers          8032    57.78    26        6.15        86       7.08
JH Kallis         11947    57.43    40        6.15        57       6.77
KC Sangakkara      8244    57.25    24        6.50        32       8.90
JB Hobbs           5410    56.94    15        6.80       199       6.66
SR Tendulkar      14692    56.94    51        5.69        78       5.67
CL Walcott         3798    56.68    15        4.93        40       5.95
L Hutton           6971    56.67    19        7.26       129       6.31
TT Samaraweera     4395    54.25    12        8.17        33       9.33
GS Chappell        7110    53.86    24        6.29        74       7.32
DPMD Jayawardene   9527    53.82    28        6.79        45       6.96
AD Nourse          2960    53.81     9        6.89        41       6.56
RT Ponting        12363    53.51    39        6.64        73       5.97
V Sehwag           7694    53.43    22        6.81        36       6.97
BC Lara           11953    52.88    34        6.82        65       6.77
Javed Miandad      8832    52.57    23        8.22        80       7.90
R Dravid          12063    52.44    31        8.35        62       7.53
Mohammad Yousuf    7530    52.29    24        6.50        29       7.86
A Flower           4794    51.54    12        9.33        49       7.59
G Gambhir          3234    51.33     9        7.56        32       6.47
SM Gavaskar       10122    51.12    34        6.29        81       6.95
MEK Hussey         4650    51.09    13        7.92        55       7.93
SR Waugh          10927    51.06    32        8.12        79       6.97
ML Hayden          8625    50.73    30        6.13        79       6.52
Younis Khan        5617    50.60    17        7.00        35       7.20
AR Border         11174    50.56    27        9.81        70       8.93
IVA Richards       8540    50.23    24        7.58       114       6.98
DCS Compton        5807    50.06    17        7.71       123       6.82

Look at his stats ffs. A lot of great batsmen from various eras actually perform remarkably similarly. Most batsmen average between 52 and 57, most batsmen score a century roughly every 5.5 to 7.5 innings (13-18% of the time). Those are numbers that have been remarkably consistent throughout the last 90 years. Bradman on the other hand, average a kick in the arse off 100, and scores a century 36% of the time he comes to the crease. **** me, Bradman scores a double century every 6.67 innings - at a better rate than many great batsmen have scored their centuries!

The game might have been different in Bradman's era, but that difference doesn't really show up when you compare numbers from across eras. Of course Bradman is pretty much exempt from criticism - his numbers are just that ****ing good.

Fastest to 6,996 runs

Batsman         No. of Innings
DG Bradman            79
WR Hammond           131
V Sehwag             134
SR Tendulkar         136
GS Sobers            138
KC Sangakkara        138
Mohammad Yousuf      139
SM Gavaskar          140
IVA Richards         140
R Dravid             141

 

[Furball]

Fun factoid: Don Bradman's Test average is exactly 43 runs higher than Sachin Tendulkar's.

Statistically, Tendulkar's average is closer to such contemporary batting luminaries such as Javigal Srinath, Suliemann Benn, Agit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Shane Warne and Harbhajan Singh than it is to Bradman's.

 

[Furball]

Fun factoid 2: Sir Vivian Richard's batting average is closer to Chris Martin's than it is to Don Bradman's.

 

[vcs]

Right, I was gonna say this before, then wiped it, but after centurymaker's wonderful posts then what the hell

Is it the case that some India fans who have never travelled outside India are undeliberately manipulated into an unrealistic world that paints everything as harder for Sachin?

I only ask because the likes of Jono, vcs and SS all live or have lived outside India and are a lot more level-headed on this sort of issue.

Obviously there are exceptions, like Teja - one of the gunnest posters on CW full stop - but still. Perceptions seem so different between those based in and out of India.

I have lived in India practically my entire life. Think it is a matter of individual opinion and willingness to be open-minded rather than anything else TBH.

Would like to appreciate Bagapath's post as well, sums it up quite perfectly for mine.

 

[Furball]

Reaction to India's win.

I see that and raise you:

 

[Jono]

That's nice of England to gather and celebrate India winning the WC too

 

[Furball]

That's nice of England to gather and celebrate India winning the WC too

YouTube - Indian celebrations in Glasgow

 

[Smudge]

I see that and raise you:

That looks like a happy, dancing bear with a hat on.

 

[Jono]

YouTube - Indian celebrations in Glasgow

Haha quite cool. Uploaded ridiculously soon after the win haha.

 

[Cevno]

I see that and raise you:

Someone to post Video of India's bus ride after the T20WC win in response to this ,in Mumbai.
Was sea of people everywhere.And that's just one city.

Or wait till ,if they have a bus ride after this win!!!!!

 

[Jono]

Let's not make this a dick measuring contest

Just good to see cricket getting attention