Way ahead of the pack

Sachin Tendulkar achieved the kind of batting numbers which are likely to remain records by some distance S Rajesh
December 23, 2012

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Sachin Tendulkar's numbers are staggering in both forms of the game, but the margin by which he is ahead of the pack in ODIs is truly mindboggling. Let alone equalling or surpassing some of his records, it's possible that no batsman will even come close to his stats. To start with, Tendulkar's overall ODI aggregate is 18,426, which is almost 35% more than the next-best, Ricky Ponting's 13,704. His 49 ODI centuries is 63% better than the second-highest, Ponting's 30. With Sourav Ganguly, he added 8227partnership runs, 50% more than Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya's 5462. His 26 century standswith Ganguly is 62.5% better than the 16 that Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist managed. (There are several others - biggest partnership, most matches, most Man-of-the-Match awards, for example - which are available with a few clicks on ESPNcricinfo's record pages.) Tendulkar was able to create such a distance Images between him and the next-best by, obviously, Enlarge playing over a long period - his is the longest Related Links career in ODI history - but also by doing so at a What They Said About : 'No one can drop him' ridiculously high standard almost throughout that Sharda Ugra : A career built on reinvention period. It helped also, that he opened the innings News : Sachin Tendulkar retires from ODIs Features : What's your favourite Tendulkar moment? through most of his career as an ODI batsman, Players/Officials: Sachin Tendulkar which gave him the best opportunity to score runs Teams: India and rack up hundreds. His outstanding batsmanship, which combined tight defence with an ability to score freely all round the wicket with minimal risk against different bowling attacks in different conditions, ensured he maximised those opportunities to score runs. Along the way he also became the first batsman to score 200 in an ODI innings.
Let alone equalling or surpassing some of his records, it's possible that no batsman will even come close to his stats Getty

Tendulkar's ODI career changed when he moved from the middle order to open the innings. The first time he did so was in his fifth match of 1994, against New Zealand in Auckland. He scored 82 off 49 balls - a strike rate of 167.34 - in a match in which no other batsman who faced more than 12 balls managed a rate of 75. India won the match with 160 balls to spare - their eighth-largest victory margin in terms of balls remaining - and it was clear that India had unearthed an option which could be of immense value to them in limited-overs cricket. None could have imagined at the time, though, that Tendulkar would end with such staggering numbers.

From the moment he started opening, his ODI career graph swung upwards and stayed high almost throughout his career. From March 27, 1994, which was the first time he opened, he averaged 47.08 in 394 matches, at a strike rate of 87.71. During this period he didn't open the batting in 50 matches, and in those games his average fell to 36.70.
Sachin Tendulkar's ODI career Period Before 1994 1994 to Dec 2000 Jan 2001 onwards Career ODIs 65 198 200 463 Runs 1679 8220 8527 18,426 Average 31.09 45.66 48.17 44.83 Strike rate 74.32 88.96 86.41 86.23 100s/ 50s 0/ 12 27/ 38 22/ 46 49/ 96

The opening act Among all openers who scored 8000-plus ODI runs, Tendulkar's average is the highest; in fact, even with a 6000-run cut-off, no opener has an average of more than 42 - Gary Kirsten's 41.80 is the second-best. Apart from the high average and strike rate, the other stat that stands out for Tendulkar is his conversion rate of fifties into hundreds: he has 45 centuries and 75 half-centuries, a fifties to hundreds ratio of 1.67. Among openers with at least 6000 runs, the only ones with comparable ratios were Herschelle Gibbs (18 centuries and 24 fifties, ratio 1.33) and Saeed Anwar (20 hundreds and 37 fifties, ratio 1.85). All the others had ratios of more than two, with some of the top names (Haynes, Ganguly, Gilchrist) scoring three fifties per century. Thus, while it's true that Tendulkar was given the opportunity to make big scores thanks to his batting position, he also utilised that much better than most other openers.
Openers with more than 8000 runs in ODIs Batsman Sachin Tendulkar Sanath Jayasuriya Adam Gilchrist Sourav Ganguly Desmond Haynes Chris Gayle Saeed Anwar Innings 340 383 259 236 237 217 220 Runs 15,310 12,740 9200 9146 8648 8184 8156 Average 48.29 34.61 36.50 41.57 41.37 40.71 39.98 Strike rate 88.05 92.48 98.02 73.59 63.09 84.83 79.93 100s/ 50s 45/ 75 28/ 66 16/ 53 19/ 58 17/ 57 20/ 44 20/ 37

Australia's tormentor Tendulkar was often at his best against the best team of his generation, Australia. He scored 3077 runs against them at 44.59, which is 36% more than the second-best aggregate against them. The highlights were obviously the 143 and 134 in Sharjah in 1998, a year which was his best in ODIs: he scored 1894 runs at 65.31, including nine centuries. Both, the runs scored and the hundreds remain a record for a calendar year. Even apart from those two Sharjah classics, he had seven hundreds against Australia, the last one being 175- his highest against Australia - three years ago in Hyderabad. Tendulkar's nine hundreds is also record for a batsman against one opposition. (Tendulkar also has eight hundreds against Sri Lanka, while no other batsman has more than seven against an opposition.)

The one glitch in Tendulkar's stats, though, are his ODI numbers in Australia: just one century in 46 innings, and a below-par average of 34.67. Unlike in Tests, where he averages more than 50 against Australia both home and away, in ODIs Tendulkar's best against them came in the subcontinent: in Asia he average 55.30 against them in 40 innings, with eight centuries, but outside Asia he averaged 29.82 against them, with one century in 30 innings.
Highest run-scorers in ODIs against Australia Batsman Sachin Tendulkar Desmond Haynes Viv Richards Brian Lara Kumar Sangakkara Jacques Kallis Jonty Rhodes Richie Richardson ODIs 71 64 54 51 44 50 55 51 Runs 3077 2262 2187 1858 1706 1660 1610 1498 Average 44.59 40.39 50.86 39.53 42.65 34.58 40.25 32.56 Strike rate 84.74 65.14 84.63 76.58 77.02 72.87 77.92 63.26 100s/ 50s 9/ 15 6/ 13 3/ 20 3/ 15 1/ 12 1/ 13 0/ 10 0/ 15

World Cup superstar In the biggest tournament in the format, Tendulkar was usually at his best. His overall World Cup tally of 2278 is the best, and he is also the only batsman to twice aggregate more than 500 in a World Cup tournament - he scored 673 in 2003, a record for a single World Cup, and 523 in 1996. Only four other batsmen have touched 500 even once in a World Cup. Tendulkar's nine Man-of-the-Match awards is also a World Cup record, three clear of the second-placed Glenn McGrath. Apart from his World Cup heroics, Tendulkar also finished with a great record in tournament finals, though there was a period between 1999 and 2004 when he appeared to struggle in them. Overall he averaged more than 54 in tournament finals, with six hundreds in 39 innings.
Highest averages among batsmen with 1000+ runs in World Cups Batsman Viv Richards Sachin Tendulkar Herschelle Gibbs Sourav Ganguly Mark Waugh Jacques Kallis Ricky Ponting Javed Miandad Brian Lara Innings 21 44 23 21 22 32 42 30 33 Runs 1013 2278 1067 1006 1004 1148 1743 1083 1225 Average 63.31 56.95 56.15 55.88 52.84 45.92 45.86 43.32 42.24 Strike rate 85.05 88.98 87.38 77.50 83.73 74.40 79.95 68.02 86.26 100s/ 50s 3/ 5 6/ 15 2/ 8 4/ 3 4/ 4 1/ 9 5/ 6 1/ 8 2/ 7

The matchwinner It was often said about Tendulkar that his big scores didn't lead to team wins, but stats reveal something quite different: Tendulkar scored 33 of his 49 centuries in wins, and averaged more than 56 in team

wins, at a strike rate of 90. Among those who scored at least 5000 runs in wins, only Lara and Richards have higher averages. In terms of hundreds scored in wins, Ponting is next with 25. However, it's also true that Tendulkar's 14 centuries in defeats is a record too, five clear of Chris Gayle, who's next with nine. In defeats, though, Tendulkar's average dropped to 33.25 at a strike rate of 79.86. Clearly, in the overall context of his lengthy career, his runs led to wins more often that not. As mentioned earlier, no player has won as many Man-of-the-Match awards either - Tendulkar has 62, while the next-best is Jayasuriya with 48.
Highest averages in wins in ODIs (Qual: 5000 runs in wins) Batsman Brian Lara Viv Richards Sachin Tendulkar Mohammad Yousuf Sourav Ganguly Michael Clarke Innings 134 114 231 151 147 134 Runs 6553 5129 11,157 6426 6938 5084 Average 61.82 56.98 56.63 55.87 55.06 52.95 Strike rate 86.32 93.01 90.31 78.59 77.87 80.62 100s/ 50s 16/ 42 11/ 32 33/ 59 14/ 41 18/ 41 4/ 42

Partnerships, and percentage of team runs scored With Ganguly, Tendulkar added 8227 partnership runs at 47.55, with 26 century stands - the runs scored and the hundred stands are the highest. Tendulkar also put together 4000-plus runs with Virender Sehwag (4387 runs at 39.16) and Rahul Dravid (4117 runs at 44.26). Tendulkar's thus the only batsman to put together 4000-plus runs with three different partners; Ganguly and Dravid are the only others to do so with two different partners. Overall, Tendulkar scored 19.24% of the total bat runs that India scored in the matches he played in his entire ODI career (18,426 runs out of 95,765). After he first opened the batting on March 27, 1994, the percentage increased to 20.08 (16,668 out of 83,008). For Ganguly, that percentage was 17.61%, for Haynes 19.58, for Anwar 18.19, for Hayden 17.49 and for Gayle 18.41%. Apart from his obvious batting exploits, there was also Tendulkar the bowler, who chipped in quite usefully more than once. His 154 ODI wickets puts him in 11th place among Indian bowlers, just one short of Ashish Nehra and three away from Manoj Prabhakar.
S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. Follow him on Twitter Feeds: S Rajesh ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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Login Posted by Hariharan Ramaswamy on (December 23 2012, 18:14 PM GMT)

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Uppercut07-Cricket is a 11 men game..If he scores a century and still India loses,what the hell did other 10 People were doing in that match..Is he only one playing the match.Just think before u talk.Who said in our country all will accept that SRT is selffish its a stupid thing..dont blabber without knwing the game.Plz
Posted by Nahush Modi on (December 23 2012, 18:13 PM GMT)

i agree wid u deathknell...........that is why ponting took a sharp dip mainly after warne, mgrath, gilly, hayden retired after 2007.. Sachin never had stiff support from his teammates..........for eg. during his 100th 100, ban were set a winning total of 290....stilll it was chased...#courtesy ind bowlers........wc 2003 final...ind bowlers were smashed for 360.....sachin got out in pirsuit of quick runs.....wc 2011 match vs SA....sachin scored century & got out on score of 267/2.......other batsman were bundled out for 296......and & bowlers were pathetic to defend what was still a par score........evry players perfomance shud be accompanied by some other peformances also...& that is what dint happend in those losses wid sachin's 16 centuries.....that is whhat happened wid mahela in wc 2011 final
Posted by Shanmugham Dharmanayagam on (December 23 2012, 18:03 PM GMT)

He is the GOD OF CRICKET!!

Posted by GerrardLK on (December 23 2012, 17:59 PM GMT)

An average player who scored majority of the centuries against the minnows & that's where his success rate in winning matches have contributed big time. Generally other legends avoid playing against minnows & give chances for youngsters. But Sachin was very greedy in his personal records & never missed a match against minnow teams & this is why his batting stats are much higher than others. His captaincy & fielding skills are much below par & no way of comparison to Sir Ricky Ponting. That concludes, by far Ponting has achieved more than Sachin in the game of cricket.
Posted by RockcityGuy on (December 23 2012, 17:55 PM GMT)

@uppercut dude honestly..what did dhoni do apart from the final???? Check your facts...sachin was the leading run scorer for india in the tournament...respect a legend..whichever country...if not plz do not enter this forum...no one cares about your opinion which pales in comparison to 18,426 runs and 49 hundreds...
Posted by KingOwl on (December 23 2012, 17:48 PM GMT)

I think Sachin's achievements in terms of sheer statistics are outstanding. There is no doubt that he is one of the greatest batsmen ever. But what I am not sure of is whether he is a top class match winner. I cannot help but feel that Sachin's centuries led to losses against strong sides on too many occasions. I think that was because of his obsession with stats. In fact in a strange way, his stats make him a bit less of a batsman than he ought to have been. I am also not sure that the world will miss him as a one day batsmen, like it did when people like Lara, Glichrist and Jayasooriya retired. Anyway, he played cricket for such a long time and that is something that may not be matched by others for a long time.
Posted by 28041991 on (December 23 2012, 17:45 PM GMT)

many people here mentioning sachin's centuries against minnows, Its as if its a crime to score century against them. as if only sachin scored against them. he scored nine centuries against MIGHTY australia , well australia WAS not a MINNOW team..... guys grow up. those one or two, who hates sachin can do( as if its going to do any harm to his massive respect from billions of fans) . atleast try to grow up...
Posted by Uppercut07 on (December 23 2012, 17:38 PM GMT)

@deathknell, it just shows that he plays for himself, when he does well and team doesn't :D) like many of ur indian fans wud agree! Btw how come u wudn't talk abt sachin's 154 ODI wickets? As opposed to Sanath's 300+ ODI wickets? Shows Sanath is the better allround ODI player.
Posted by Murali Krishna on (December 23 2012, 17:36 PM GMT)

@ Uppercut07 sri lanka has best ever bowler murali thats y u r able to come up with stats of jayasuriya tendulkar has 21 centuries over jayasuriya still u people talk some thing non sense. the real thing is u may not like india that implies srt
Posted by DeathKnell on (December 23 2012, 17:19 PM GMT)

@Xylo - now u are next in the queue.... so lets talk abt other aspects... SRT took 200 wickets (150+50 approx) in total...and he played #4 in tests (while ricky at 3) and still on top of Ricky... if u wud like to compare...then u have to bring the team composition/ opponents both have faced..etc. etc.. Ricky scoring 100/ doing well against India is much much easier than SRT doing the same against Aus...& he does it with such an ease you almost forget this parameter and this goes with every other team considering the Aussie domination (so many supporting hands for Ricky) during the era in world cricket.. gilly/haydoos wud have teared the opposition apart before ricky gets in for a feast....or McG,Warne, Gil & co would have smashed the oppn for a paltry total which is further worsened by Aus batsmen and then comes Ricky to complete the formalities....