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So, who's the best?

Readers' turn

In a poll conducted by rediff.com, following Barry Richards' opinion about Sachin Tendulkar's batting, 26 per cent of the readers voted Tendulkar as the greatest bastsman while 72 per cent emphatically said 'NO'.

Subsequently, we ran two stories:
• Is Sachin the greatest?

• Sachin -- in Stats and Figures

Here's what a section of the readers have to say about the controversy.

Name:Arindam
Message:As far as Mr. Barry Richards' comments are concerned, the fact that he could go on comparing Lara and Sachin without seeing individual records doesn't speak volumes about his observations ... But then I guess it's his opinion and it was best had he kept it to himself!!!

As far as Sachin is concerned, there is little doubt that any present playing cricket player is as good and as consistent as him. Yes, He might never win another CEAT, Samsung or any of those other cricket rating awards at the end of the year courtesy a blasting year by Saurav, Jayasuriya, Ponting etc, etc.

But Sachin has, does, and will continue to capture the imagination of cricket lovers, the likes of Barry Richards notwithstanding.

Before I take my leave, just one small suggestion: has anyone pondered about the fact that while Sachin is good with the bat, he doesn't exactly do a bad job with the ball either. Huh, Mr. Richards, we would love to see Mr. Lara, with due credit to his bowling skills, roll his arm over with Sachin ready on the other side of the playing square.

, With that,
Arindam Biswas

Name:Shirish Jain
Message:Hi Prem, I thoroughly enjoy reading your articles. However, even though I form a part of the legion of Sachin fans, I do, however, feel that one can hardly remember innings where Sachin has played to pull the team out of the woods and won matches for India (like in Sharjah 1999 or the first Test of the last Aussie tour to India).

On all our recent tours (Aust/SA/WI), he hardly did anything worthwhile than coming up with a few knocks here and there.

If one compares this with Steve Waugh's performances, Sachin is left miles behind.

In fact, in recent times, as well, he has scored only against weak opposition while playing at home.

Well, that's my opinion.

Rgds

Shirish

Name:SAM
Message:Fortune has it that I live in the era of Shri Sachin Tendulkar, the epitome of what is wholesome about playing a game with the most fluid of effort or application. The grace which engulfs the air whenever and wherever he is standing. The man is testament to the truth and confirmation to what is so great about admiring and simply observing the master at work.

Barry Richards has further confirmed that he is one of those that chooses to be irrational when you'd expect him to be rational about things (his regular reputation) but for some obscure and unfortunate reason he has displayed the lack of wisdom or clear thinking with the statement he is the creator of.

I think there is a basic instinct in all of us when trying to fathom who is the best, but we should put PERSPECTIVE into debate and discussion; be it in the bar or on a panel.

For now let us just put our hands in the air and admit to the very basic truth that is "Sachin Tendulkar is no normal or good cricket player, he is "a" great one and should be remembered as one".

regards
Samir R Patel

Name:Shekar
Message:I agree that one cannot compare talents from different eras. There are just too many factors that come into affect in different times. Would you really compare favorably bowlers who get bagful of wickets against the current West Indian side with its pathetic display of batting (even with Lara)? The point is the quality of opposition, quality of teammates, pitches etc affect performance. But still, I think there is no need to refrain from making comparisons! Fine, everybody should enjoy individual talents, and I am sure we all do. But that's exactly why we start making comparisons, because we enjoy individual talent. We want to know if what we enjoy is the greatest, and hence the urge to play the numbers game. Anyway, once we play it, we can make a more objective assessment of the talent, as you rightly did. So, I think these debates are generally a good thing, gets everybody to think about the game, and additionally, keeps the former stars in focus.

Name:Mihir
Message:I think Barry is right to a certain extent...but not entirely..Sachin has rarely performed abroad except in the subcontinent pitches..actually this is due to the fact that we dont tour England and Aus regularly..this needs to be done..at least every alternate year...so that we get more and more familiar with those pitches..Sachin is technically the most perfect i think..so its just a matter of practice..

Name:Tamal Sinha Ray
Message:Before delving deep into the controversy of Tendulkar or Lara being the greatest among contemporary batsmen, we should also ponder at the man who has stirred up the recent controversy - Barry Richards, arguably one of the best opening batsmen of all time. But is he really so great. All we have seen are glimpses of him at a Masters' Tournament. Could he have played with the same kind of prowess against the likes of Lillee and Thompson or for that matter against the famed Indian spin quartet? Very unlikely. Hence we can put it down as the ravings and rantings of a disgruntled man who was robbed in his prime of playing Test cricket because of apartheid.

Name:jaya aptil
Message:It is ridiculous to compare Sachin with any other batsmen in the world. It is not by the record that I say but the amount of runs he scores, the loyality and honesty he bears in his batting to win games for his country. He simply cannot be compared with anybody because he is the greatest batsman ever produced by the world. He is sheer delight to the public, he is the world's possession rather than only country's possession. At a very young age he has shown what it takes to be a great batsman- will, skill, talent, determination and hard work he puts in whether it is batting, bowling, fielding. It is hard to find such a committed and dedicated cricketer in today's cricketing world.

Hats off to you Sachin, you are the precious jewel of this country and the world.

He can be compared but nobody can be in front of him.

Name:Sharad Desai
Message:Dear Prem While I agree with your basic premise, it is expecting people to go completely against the grain of human nature (if there IS only one grain!) to not expect them to make comparisons - that is what comparisons are all about....I think what shatters Ole Barry's arguments completely is the statistical comparison that you made - it is clear that there is no numerical basis for his comments. Perhaps, this is just a case of puncturing Indian ego's / getting our goat up ahead of a tour to the country by the team from his adopted country...call me a conspiracy theorist but this is the start of the tour - we are now facing the Australian Cricket Machine and this is the psychological part of the war.

It is now time for some well aimed arts at the so called skills of the likes of Shane Warne ( lousy on the subcontinent - see what we did to him the last time round ...hahahahaha), Mark Waugh (classy?? perhaps he needs $20,000/- before he lets us see it...), Brett Lee ( oh yes, the chucker..), Glenn Mcgrath (Poor sod - better men were done in by the Indian pitches), Michael Slater ( He loves chops, doesn't he? He keeps chopping the ball nto his stumps), Ricky Ponting ( at home in a girly bar) etc. etc....Why don't you guys get some disparaging comments going in the Aussie media ahead of the tour? Playing opponensts at home....everyone and his dog beats the West Indies these days ( even England did!) etc etc...We really can't let senile old buffers like Barry Richards get us down - I saw that innings of his in the masters competition in Mumbai.

If I remember correctly, he had 6 lives - though he did get a hundred. I think it's good to compare - and lets put the 'Sachin is not the best' chaps in front of us and prove to them that he is - even if it is by showing that everyone else they suggest is NOT.

Name:sunder
Message: I read your article and agree quite well that it is unfair to compare 2 different eras because they are 2 different eras. Things are totally different. One point of India not playing many test mathces against Aussies or South Africa. India doesn't play many Test matches at all. This year almost all the countries have played atleast 10 test matches where as india has played only 6. Pathetic. So it just happens that Kumble who made his debut against eng in 1990 before Warne is still lurking below the 300 mark. If only we had played more test matches then lot of records would be different. and if anybody is to be blamed it is not just the board but the public who fail to appreciate test cricket. Remember West Indies were greates at one time not becuase they won world cup twice but becuase they won test matches where ever they went. That again gives a question, is the achievement by the aussies of winning 13 matches in a row equal to those won by westindies in their era? Point to ponder?????????????????

Name:Ghanashyam
Message:I think a good comparison might result from analysing how many of the individual batsman's hundreds resulted in wins for their respective teams and how many were match saving ones.

My feeling is Tendulkar will score lower on this count.

Quite apart from all this, as you say, it is a great joy to watch all three in their best form and that should be the bottomline.

Sachin Tendulkar Name:Venkat Rajagopal
Message:Prem, I read your article on Barry's comments. I agree with you totally. Although Barry did'nt mention this, one of the reasons why Richards was thought of as a great player was the way he played England in England. Once again, if you look at averages, Sachin comes out on top over Richards although he has played lesser number of test matches in England. Here is my thought on the issue. I was a great fan of Richards' batting and I am a great fan of Sachin. I have'nt seen Bradman or Pollock play but here's what I think separates Sachin from all other great players I've had the fortune to watch. Here is the point. Sachin is the one batsman I know that can consistently hit a great delivery for a legitimate boundary with a perfectly good cricketing shot. How many times have we heard the commentator go "That's not a bad ball at all and yet Sachin has hit a great shot for a boundary". Although other players do it, they don't do it anywhere near as consistently as Sachin. Just my two cents. Thanks.

Name:anurag
Message:When I read Barry Richard's comments I was the happiest person in the world. Why you ask? Well, because knowing Sachin, he would treat this is a great challenge to prove Barry wrong. He will take his game to greater heights. I think when Australia comes to India, Sachin will play with a purpose. He will show the world why opposing teams have to game plan with him as the central figure. There is no doubt in my mind that when Sachin hangs up his bat 10 years down the road he will be the greatest player ever to have played.

Name:Santosh
Message:Well the world knows and even the fastest bowlers & spiners currently playing know & fear about Sachin's batting approach...well what Barry Richards said would be his own views....my question to barry would be not to go by the records but with the fear in the mind of bowlers when they bowl to Sachin...as Glen Mcgrath puts it yu need to be 110% perfect when bowling to Sachin and endorsed by Akram as the most dangerous player to bowl to...no body in the world talks about South African Cricketers except Jonty for his fielding prowress...do they have any batting legends..if they bring their aparthied ban...they are responsible for it...not the cricketing fraternity...to sum up the South Africans are following the way what Aussie Media do when any cricketing country visits them...bring out controversial issues to start a pyschological war in the minds of players before they start playing or may be the South African cricket needs more media coverage???who knows

Does Barry Richards needs to know that not a single player from South Africa(past or present )was invited for Sir Don Bradman's party...nor were the Lara's or the Richards's...not a single soul from the rest of the criket world except Sachin & a selected few from the Aussie Criket were invited...well he doesnt require Barry to confirm his cricket ranking,the fast guys and spin bowlers know more better ...

Name:Rajeev Bhat
Message:You conveniently forgot to compare the one day avgs. in Australia, South Africa and England. You also forgot to compare the test avgs. in England. That's where greatness of Richards and Lara comes. I have always believed Sachin is just a hype. If he plays defensively, he can't get runs, if he plays attackingly on fast and bouncy or seeming pitches, he gets out! I don't remember him hitting Wasim Akram or Donald, or DeVilliers or Mcgrath during one dayers. I could see him doing the namasthe postion whenever there was a bouncer in Australia, holding up the bat in air and squatting half way through submissively. So much so he was almost trembling when Mcgrath or Brett Lee came in to bowl.

I still remember the contests between Ambrose and Sachin or Walsh and Sachin. Do you remember Singapore. How badly he was beaten for five consecutive deliveries trying to hit Ambrose and geting out. Infact, the match was replayed following day and this time he was worse, like a school boy.

I have never seen Richards miss five consecutive deliveries, that too beaten by each one of them and close to getting out on each occasion. I have never seen Gavaskar or Richards or even Lara getting clean bowled by fast bowlers as often as Sachin does.

Do you remember how hansie Cronje used to bowl slow balls on the leg side and so easily get Sachin to pop a catch in square-leg?

All this says only one thing, because of tendulkar's heavy bat and on the up hitting style, if the ball seams or bounces, he is no postion to hit the ball or even defend the ball, if he tries to hit. His back foot play is almost non existent. yeah he can hit Olongo, Odumbe or Kasprowicz very well. When Richards played, you had bowlers like Jeff Thompson, Lillee, Imran Khan, Ian Botham, etc. He pounded spin and pace alike.

Therefore when you give statistics, you have to show everything and everywhere. You can't take that 148 Sachin made against Kenya in England and say his one day avg. in England is good. Take that out and you get a miserable avg of less than 20. How great! Anyway he is true son of the soil. Gets runs only in India

Name:raj
Message:All this is stupid comparision, well why can't we just enjoy the game. Well is it gonna make any difference if Sachin is no 1 or not, May be to David Dhawan, who can get idea to make new Movie, Sachin NO 1. otherwise, i wont make any difference to Indian Cricket.

Name:Praful .V.
Message:Barry Richards' comments on a web-site that Graeme Pollock and Vivian Richards were the greatest batsmen he has seen, was nice to read. But what is downright shocking is, when he says that Sachin Tendulkar is just about a good batsman and that too in the sub-continent! His claim that Sachin hasn't proved himself in Australia and South Africa is quite dumb, to say the least, since Sachin has yet to come back from an abroad tour without a hundred.

I'm sure he hasn't forgotten the 169 at Cape Town(1997) which had John Woodcock remarking that it was the finest innings he had seen in test cricket. OR his 114 at Perth and Sydney(1991-92) as a 19 year old!

Or his 116 at Melbourne(1999-00).And can anyone tell me how many times Sachin was caught behind(which is the commonest form of dismissal on those pitches) on that ill-fated tour in 8 limited over,3 tests and 3 first-class matches?Just once!In Sydney in a One-day match when India was skittled for 100 and Australia themselves won with great difficuty,ably aided by their umpires.

In 6 test innings in Australia he was a victim of poor umpiring decisions ,3 times.A whopping number, if you happen to be the premier batsman of the opposite team. I'm sure no other batsman in cricket has been subjected to so many things that are "just not cricket"!

In Durban(1997),in the first innings he was dismissed, by what Allan Donald in his autobiography, calls the best delivery he has ever bowled.In the second, he was caught by Kirsten flying full stretch at 2nd slip which would have put Zenga to shame. In Cape Town in the first innings he was caught by Adam Bacher,making half an attempt to a ball travelling for a six!

And last but not the least ,Sachin isn't blessed with a dream team a la Graeme Pollock & Viv Richards."

Name:Avinash Varma
Message:Dear Prem, Barry Richards' comments with respect to Sachin's batting abilities were interesting in addition to being debatable ofcourse.

We have all been too lavish in our use of the word "great" over the past few years. While most of us would not readily agree with Barry's comments, they do serve the purpose of making us all pause and think a bit about Sachin's achievements. There is no doubt that unless India drastically improves its Test Match to One Day ratio, Sachin's record will be looked at with more than slight circumspection and rightly so. Scoring centuries against Zimbabwe at will is not the same as scoring a century against Australia or SA. India should have played more tests against SA, Australia, the West Indies and England, which it has not in the last five years. One can debate whose fault that is but that won't do us any good.

As far as his comments that Sachin is good only at home, take Brain Lara's record outside of West Indies. I don't remember him setting Sri Lankan, Pakistani, India, Australian or even Zimbabwean grounds on fire with his batting, so I guess that answers that question.

Is greatness defined only in the ability to bat on fast bouncy wickets? What about batting on dusty wickets where the ball begins to turn after lunch on the first day? How has Lara fared in those conditions?

As you rightly say in your piece, this discussion comparing players across generations is purely an academic exercise and serves no useful purpose.

I too have seen Pollock only on tapes and he was good. But he never faced Bedi Prasanna and Chandrasekhar. Viv Richards was in my opinion the best of the modern crop depending upon when you start defining modern times.

But the criticism of Sachin, although a bit harsh should be taken in good stride and with an eye on the future. It will egg Tendulkar on I am sure and that will be wonderful for cricket.

Let us plan a five Test series in SA,West Indies, Australia and England. If it happens in the next two years, Barry Richards will be proven wrong.

The difference between Lara and Tendulkar is simple. It is in their heads. That is why Sachin will never go through a bad patch the way Lara has gone through. Consistency too after all is one of the ingredients of greatness.

Thanks & Regards
Avinash

Name:Bharath
Message:Without a doubt, your team mates are extremely crucial to your own individual success. Michael Jordan did not win a championship until Scottie Pippen came on board, the US will NEVER win a Davis Cup unless both Andre and Pete are on board, Dan Marino never won a super bowl yada...yada..yada...

I think your point, and Dravid's too, about team mates is very well taken. I promise to buy REDF stock if you start your next article with "Shut up Barry."

Here's another way to put it:
Don Bradman- who was Superman incarnate, mentioned only Sachin when it came to who resembled his batting style.
Shane Warne - can we say, inarguably, one of the best spinners of all time, says Sachin was in his dreams?
Arjuna Ranatunga - the most cerebral of all recent captains, has said that the gameplan goes out the window if Sachin's on song
Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram have both said that Sachin is the toughest to bowl to....

So as far as I am concerned, Barry is persona non-grata. - Bharath

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