ReallyCrazy said:
ummm since you have been watching cricket for a long time, i thought you would know that Tendulkar has played cricket from 1989. He has faced Wasim and Waqar (though mostly in ODIs) and got the better of them. He has also faced Walsh, Ambrose and Bishop together. The first time I saw him take them apart was in the WC'96 and he didn't do too badly in the tour to the WI in 1997. Prior to that series, India toured SA and on one of the most difficult tracks to bat on, he scored a hundred against pollock and Donald, who was going through this purple patch.
We all know how he has got the better of shane warne time and again, whether in tests or ODIs. Warne went on record saying that he had nightmares of sachin hitting him for six (he doesn't hit that many sixes anymore
) He has done well against Damien Fleming who was another very good bowler. As for McGrath Vs Sachin, I will call it even. McGrath has got him a few times but I also remember sachin gettin on top a few times.
As for his "weakness", well every batter can be made to look weak at times. I remember single digit scores were the norm for Lara a few years ago and now he is back better than ever. I will say the same for Tendulkar. He will be back. He has the most number of international 100s and would have surpassed Allan Border's record already if India plays as many tests as Australia does. And your calling him a weak link?
Really who were the good bowlers of the '80s? The WI attack whom Richards never faced?
well I am basing much of what I say on Test cricket, which I beleive to be the format of the game which tests a players ability more than ODI's will ever do.(ODI cricket is heavily stacked in favour of the batsman)
Tendulkar never scored a century vs a WI team which could be remotely considered very strong (his first century vs WI was in 94,vs Walsh,Benjamin,Cummins,Hooper,Chanderpaul and adams, the last three had to bowl 70 of the 155 overs of the innings).Tendulkar faced Waqar and Wasim in 1998/99 in tests (both bowlers could be considered past their best) and his series scores were 0,136,6,29,0,9...
Around this time for a few years Tendulkar was certainly the best batsman in the world, but for the last 2 years or so he hasnt been anywhere near (Ponting,Dravid,Kallis,Lara,Vaughan,Hayden and maybe a few more have all done much better than Tendulkar in that period)
Lara went through a bad patch about 4 years ago, where it didnt look like he would score any runs...but look what was happening to his team, that wasa true low point for WI (vs England and Australia)..all the batting was resting on Lara, it was the one bad period of his career.
Tendulkar recently in his last 19 innings has been dismissed 11 times in single figures (yes I know he also scored a 241* and a 194* in that, but Mr Reliable he hasnt been) and considering the success the Indian batting have had recently, I think it is reasonable to consider him a weak link at this moment (well as well as the opening spot not occupied by Sehwag)
Who were the great(or even just good bowlers) bowlers of the 80's (and 70's)(in no particular order) that Richards played against...oh just the small matter of Hadlee, Imran,Snow,McDermott, Botham,Willis,Lillee,Thomson,Alderman,Bedi,Dev,Rodney Hogg,Qadir,Underwood etc
Look as I say I do think Tendulkar is a great batsman, but I dont think he quite deserves this reputation of being unbeatable, coz he is as vunerable to good bowling as anyone can be when they have a 50+ batting average.