Shoaib Akhtar has done it again. He is the centre of attention, managed to invite some controversy and started a debate that perhaps did not even cross the minds of cricket fans.
“I think players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid weren’t exactly match winners to start with, nor did they know the art of finishing the game,” Akhtar said on the eve of his book launch in India.
The auto-biography titled “Controversially Yours” is Akhtar at his candid best, and besides Tendulkar many personalities and cricketers come into the cross-hair.
But undoubtedly, the claims putting Tendulkar under the spot-light have managed to ruffle the most feathers, with most experts terming Akhtar’s words as nonsense.
While some members of the press have termed Akhtar “the sales man of the year”, some have put the claims against Tendulkar under the microscope.
The Indian legend’s record speaks for itself but is there any weight behind Akhtar’s claims?
Dawn.com invites its readers to give their view and suggestions.
Sachin have his best permanence and record against the Australian team and the best part is during his era the Australian team was a world beaters and they had the histories best bowlers Sharne Warne and Macgrath in that period…
Cricinfo says: “Tendulkar’s Test average in Australia is marginally higher than his average against them at home, while six of his ten hundreds against them have come in Australia.”
His average in Australia – Matches:16, Runs: 1522, Average:58.53, Hundred: 6/ Fifty: 5
How can people say Sachin plays well only in Sub-continent pitches after seeing his record in Australia…
tendulkar’s quality is nothing but a myth which is purely false . he is an average player . as a batsman, gilchrist was far better than him .
anyone ,with long period of time like tendulkar , can do better records than him .
I never expected such a thoughtful comments from the otherside of the boarder. My perceptions about pakistani people needs to be changed.
In my opinion, becuase of his records, we expect sachin to each and every match, however being human its simply not possible. BTW, there is a proverb which says “trees which has ripened Fruit will getting the beating with stones”. Hope you inderstand what it means.
Yes,he is a match winner he has lots of man of the match but Indian bowling not good that’s why India lose many matches it’s not a sachin Falt he is a best batsman of the world
it,s depend upon the match situation, but in my eyes tandulkar not match winner but he is a star . He’s a legend and his records say it all
Tendulkar can only be remember for records he made and for his humble nature, but not as successful captain and winning player, i afarid. Ganguly is much better in winning as captain and as a batsman also.
w8 guys let me tel u the truth abt shoaib
he is a record breaker but not a match winner . I do respect his cricketing spreading over 2 decades.he is undoubtedly an outstanding cricketer of his times.
sachin is a brilliant performer , not a match winner.
Ofcourse sachin is NOT a match winner, he is in the team only to make records
Tendulkar is a Great Batsman with enormous amount of Skills talent and Experience.Actually the Game of cricket is not single handed.It needs coordination with Bat and Ball.Its not Tendulkar but weak bowling of India has ruined his hard work over time and times.Tendulkar level matches the sky but the bowling level of india has made them to loose matches.In the End Sachin is Great Forever!!!
Folks both sides of the debate have some valid agrument. There are instances where he was the deciding factor in India winning or saving the match and there woud be many examples where he could not lived upto expectations of his fans. And such is the magnitude of his tremendous career. SRT has done enough to command respect and treated by countless as there role model.
Some of the cases where he could not finish(e.g., Chennai 99) or could not lived upto his fan’s expectations only shows that he is after all human.
If I was him I would be very satisfied with my career and the way I dealt with it.
Quite frankly, I do not consider Shoaib a world class bowler. He lacked fitness to perform at the highest level and did not have much ability other than to bowl super fast (with some chukking perhaps).
However, the debate is not about how good or bad Shoaib (or any other player) has been, but rather if Tendulkar/Dravid have been match winners or not. In my humble opinion, Tendulkar may have been a run making machine but he has contributed much less to the team’s winning ratio, especially outside the sub-continent. Recent example is the England tour where Tandulkar failed altogether whereas Dravid played extremely well but could not be a “match winner”.
Out of the 99 centuries Tandulkar has scored (along with 156 half centuries), can someone please quote the ones scored out of sub-continent and (most importantly) how many of them contributed towards an indian team win? That should settle the debate.
One can disagrees with Shoaib Akhtar on many things in and out of the field. But to the extent i heard from his biography, i am glad that he speaks the bitter truth. With no offend to Team India lovers, its a bitter fact that Scahin records speaks for himself that how good cricketer he was, but impressive record holder players doesn’t meant a match winner also. Indian’s should take this view by world’s fastest bowler till now in positive way. We have seen Javed Miandad, who single handily changes the result of game, similarly, ricky pointing, Micheal Hassey, Sangakara, etc don’t match the tons of Scahin, but victory against their performance are much more prominent as compare to Dravid and Scahin.
Well, sorry my friend but you are wrong on this one. All the players have won matches for their teams but Tendulkar has won more for his team than any of the ones you mentioned. He is an opening batsman and to expect him to finish a game every time he scores a hundred is asking for too much. Most of the times, despite his efforts his team mates are the ones that lost the match with their complencency. many oppositions just sweat when is is still at the crease and this was not different for Pak team.
The simple truth is that whoever in this forum says that Tendulkar is not a match winner are just self satisfying their egos because of jealousy. But I would request them to comeout of their mindset and at-least learn to applaud what is good.
very wise man with balanced view.sachin is no.1 match winner of world
Please watch reruns of Tendulkar’s two chance-less gems in the VB finals against Australia. 117* (not-out, finished the game) and 90 odd. Both the games won us the first ever ODI c’ship in Australia. Check out his Compaq cup century against SL. Check out his Sharjah heroics. Check out his stats for the finals of Singer trophy in 1998. Check out his last over in the Hero cup. And I am only talking about finals here. If you run his stats on cricinfo, you will notice that his average for the finals is 54.44 in ODIs – better than his career average. Isn’t that a match winner?
Sachin is an excellent and enduring batsman who is a liability for the Indian team. He plays for himself (and his records), but he does not play for the team. He is not a match winner. Often, he is not even a match saver.
Hi guys,
Interesting read though! Shoaib has done a great job by bringing the topic of both Sachin and Rahul ,ofcourse as we all know to sell his book in cricket mad countries like India and Pak. Sachin has been demolishing opponents since the day he started playing for India and the guy’s consistency in both the test and Onedayer’s is enough to rate him a better player than most of the above mentioned greats.And above that both Sachin and Rahul have given credibility to International cricket by the way they have behaved on the field and off the field,whereas players like Ponting,Shoaib,Miandad and some other greats though being very good cricketers have always hogged the headlines for behaving like thugs than like true cricketers.Guys look at the total package these two cricketer’s bring in into International cricket. Perfect role models for all aspiring sport guys though!
Tendulkar is a Match Winner…(Period)
No discussion on that. He has many times brought their team close to victory, but his team mates couldn’t finish it and it is not his blame. When ever he scores his team mates are complecent.
Shoib himself says he cheated with the ball… so I have lost all the respect for this guy. Doesn’t matter what he says.
It is possible that Shoaib Akhtar meant to say that SRT is not a finisher. In ODIs, as an opening batsman, he is unlikely to finish the game. That’s not his job. In tests, it is the bowlers who win you the games, so batsmen don’t have much control over the result. While SRT is being compared with others such as Kallis, Ponting, Lara, Waugh, Inzamam ul haq and others, show me one batsman who has won games after games (both tests in ODIs). There are none. While Ponting has perhaps the best record when it comes to sheer number of wins, others have not done anything spectacular consistently. Waugh may have his innings against SA in 99 world cup. What else? Check his 3rd and 4th innings record in tests. How many ODIs has Lara won? How many finals? And except his 153 against AUS, what else does he have to show for test wins? Show me one match where Kallis has won a test based only on his batting. How many ODIs and how many finals? It almost seems as if people gather stats of all these players and pit it against SRT’s stats. That’s unfair.
Hello,
There is no doubt in my mind that Tendulkar is not a match winner and history proves that in contrast to Inzimam (Inzi) who was not only a legendary team player but aslo a true match winner.
Example of Tendulkar of a player who is selfish to put his on name on World scoring board (rankings) and Indian board definately support him in this conquest, as in the case of Dravid and VVS Laxman. However if you check statistics of matches Tendulkar scored aginst any of top 8 playing nations India hardly won those matches and another week that bulk of Tendulkar runs also scored on Indian wickets.
Mr. Tendulkar is a commited scoring batsman but not a commited macth winner, if he really posseses that he could not failed as a Captain, whereas Mr. Dhone is successful on both aspects and can be classed a a trur match winner.
………. A senible analyst/mind only needs a hint.
Please provide some stats n your claim. I have provided some details bellow for reference. There is no point in arguing without figures.
I am Pakistan fan, never liked shuaib, he has speed but nothing else as cricketer, his attitude towards the game has been really odd, If he had the right attitude and personality, he would have been a good captain for Pakistan team. But he is too much of himself, egoestic branding himself as great match winner when his fitness level has always been in question. He cant even be compared with the likes of Imran, Waqar, or Wasim.
Like it or not, Sachin is one of the great batsman in cricket. When you are good batsman and keep his place in the team for almost 22 years then its an acheivement in its own right and records can be broken easily when keep playing good cricket. I dont think he can be blamed for doing good when team lost the match. He played his part by getting runs thats what he does.
As always shuaib is in the news for wrong reasons not because of his cricket!!
To all the Pakistanis: Do you want your child to become like Sachin or Shoaib? If you answer this honestly, you will get the answer of this discussion.
Jayrith, i would rather my child becomes successful like Sachin rather than Shoaib but that is not the point of discussion. Nor is the discussion if Shoaib is a good cricketer. Nor is the discussion that Shoaib was a successful cricketer. The discussion is : Is Sachin a game winner? I have difficulty in answering yes. I have no difficulty in answering Yes to : Is Scahin a legend and a great and classy batsmen. Yes he is.
I have also difficulty in answering Yes to : Is Sehwag a game winner? or Ricky Ponting or Brian Lara.
But I have some hesitancy in answering yes to Sachin or Dravid ofr that question.
By the way Sachin has been my hero since I have been a child and will remain so.
i believe a good player always deliver best.if India lost when he scores its not total his fault.we are uselessly tagging him on remarks of a player who himself didn’t know the abilities he has and how to use them.
spot on Sana.
People who are saying that whenever Sachin scores a century India loses, don’t understand cricket.
This all depends on your definition of a match-winner, in terms of the longevity of a top career Sachin is probably unmatched. However, in terms of finishing or wrestling a game away from an opposition – Dravid would lead the way in the current Indian line up. Even though Dravid’s style is not as aggressive as that of Richards, Lara or Ponting his contribution is just as immense to his team.
This summer was another example of how Sachin (with such talent) failed to fire; its true the others failed too barring Dravid. Sachin is not an all-weather batter like Dravid…….the records may belong to Sachin but the key performances belong to Dravid!