Round table revisited, Lara the best batsmen of modern era

[honestbharani]

Sachin could average 70 for three more years and you'll always rate Lara better than him?

Can only truly judge when both careers are over. It's not as if Sachin's career stopped when Lara retired. You compare career vs. career.

At the end of Sachin's career one can say Lara was the better player. You may think that at this point in time Lara is. But saying "I'll never rate" just points out that its an unchangeable opinion based on bias.

Well, that always in Pratyush's posts was kinda unwarranted.. But I still don't think Sachin has done something I won't expect from him.. The real reason I believe Lara is slightly better is because I tend to view making big scores when in form as an important aspect of batsmanship in tests and it is an aspect where I think Lara is better than Sachin by a wee bit... In other areas, they are basically neck and neck.. Sachin is perhaps more likely to make a 30 than Lara at their worst, but as I said, my personal opinion is that there is a bigger difference between 100 and 130 than 0 and 30, given the stage of the game and the type of batsmanship you would see and what it does to the guy at the other end and to the guys still in the dressing room... You can't always explain it but it is something you learn when you play....


Obviously, if we include ODIs, I would say Sachin > Lara... And in ODIs alone, Sachin is easily better than Lara... But I am talking about tests here.

 

[Jono]

Honest, you reasons for why you think Lara is better than Sachin are more than valid, and always have been.

I was just curious as to the "always", but if you didn't necessarily mean that bit of Pratters' post than fair enough.

 

[mohammad16]

I dont think its a contest when you look at it just in terms of ODIs or tests.

Lara for me is clearly ahead of Sachin the test batsmen while Tendulkar is clearly ahead of Lara as an ODI player.

I was just looking at somehow comparing their overall greatness and contributions to the game itself and I give Tendulkar a very very slight edge. But definitely have Lara as the better test bat and Sachin obviously as a better ODI one.

 

[vcs]

Well, that always in Pratyush's posts was kinda unwarranted.. But I still don't think Sachin has done something I won't expect from him.. The real reason I believe Lara is slightly better is because I tend to view making big scores when in form as an important aspect of batsmanship in tests and it is an aspect where I think Lara is better than Sachin by a wee bit... In other areas, they are basically neck and neck.. Sachin is perhaps more likely to make a 30 than Lara at their worst, but as I said, my personal opinion is that there is a bigger difference between 100 and 130 than 0 and 30, given the stage of the game and the type of batsmanship you would see and what it does to the guy at the other end and to the guys still in the dressing room... You can't always explain it but it is something you learn when you play....


Obviously, if we include ODIs, I would say Sachin > Lara... And in ODIs alone, Sachin is easily better than Lara... But I am talking about tests here.

Hmm... that depends on your threshold for a big score. Sachin has a higher 100 scoring rate per Test innings than Lara (including or excluding minnows). Lara is obviously better at scoring the really big ones, the 200+ and 300+ scores. But, one could argue that those really big scores are rare enough to be of lesser value to a team than a batsman who can make centuries or 150s more regularly, which Sachin has plenty of.

 

[vcs]

Where I believe Lara has an advantage over Sachin is that he can completely dominate a series with an avalanche of runs in a way Tendulkar has, as yet failed to do in his career. He has several series averaging 80, 90, 100 etc. with run aggregates between 500 and 800. Sachin has never aggregated more than 500 in a series. However, India also play shorter Test series than WI, by and large. The closest Sachin has come to completely dominating a Test series with the bat was against Australia in '98.

 

[Teja.]

I am of the opinion that Lara is a slightly overrated test batsman because of how divine he is when in full flow.

In the last 20 years If I have to rate the top 5 batsmen:-

1.SRT
2.Ponting
3.Waugh
4.Lara
5.Dravid

 

[honestbharani]

Honest, you reasons for why you think Lara is better than Sachin are more than valid, and always have been.

I was just curious as to the "always", but if you didn't necessarily mean that bit of Pratters' post than fair enough.

yep.. that was it... I guess it would have been more accurate to say "I have always rated Lara > Sachin in tests".. At least, in terms of since I joined CW... But obviously, Sachin could well do even better and prove me wrong. I definitely rate Sachin higher today than I did back in 2004 or so, for instance...

 

[Cevno]

Well, that always in Pratyush's posts was kinda unwarranted.. But I still don't think Sachin has done something I won't expect from him.. The real reason I believe Lara is slightly better is because I tend to view making big scores when in form as an important aspect of batsmanship in tests and it is an aspect where I think Lara is better than Sachin by a wee bit... In other areas, they are basically neck and neck.. Sachin is perhaps more likely to make a 30 than Lara at their worst, but as I said, my personal opinion is that there is a bigger difference between 100 and 130 than 0 and 30, given the stage of the game and the type of batsmanship you would see and what it does to the guy at the other end and to the guys still in the dressing room... You can't always explain it but it is something you learn when you play....


Obviously, if we include ODIs, I would say Sachin > Lara... And in ODIs alone, Sachin is easily better than Lara... But I am talking about tests here.

It all depends on the situation really ,for example

Sachin's 55 and VVS's 60 odd in the fourth test at mumbai in 2004 against australia for me are more valuable than the 375 lara scored.

Sometimes scoring 30 odd at the right time is more valuable than a 150 another time.

Though going by your logic Sehwag beats both on this facet ,considering the results of the matches where he has scored big too and the rate at which he has scored.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

These kind of threads usually turn out to be bad idea, but I will indulge.

I rate Lara half a notch below SRT. If Lara had played to his potential in ODIs I would reconsider, but he didn't.

In tests, for the respective roles they played in their teams, I actually rate them fairly equal.

My top 5 batsman for "Lara's" generation would be:

1. Tendulkar
2. Lara
3. Ponting
4. Dravid
5. Too numerous to mention.

 

[honestbharani]

It all depends on the situation really ,for example

Sachin's 55 and VVS's 60 odd in the fourth test at mumbai in 2004 against australia for me are more valuable than the 375 lara scored.

Sometimes scoring 30 odd at the right time is more valuable than a 150 another time.

Though going by your logic Sehwag beats both on this facet ,considering the results of the matches where he has scored big too and the rate at which he has scored.

yeah, but you need to factor in the sort of attacks they faced... Anyways, it is my way of rating and I feel they are fair enough. Obviously situation is important, but I am talking about what happens once you have scored a 100.. A lot of times I have seen Sachin score a 100+ in the first dig but get out at the wrong time, when he could have kicked on and put the game"really" out of reach for the opponent. It has happened withLara as well but slightly less frequent than Sachin.. My two cents. I don't insist I am right...

 

[bagapath]

statistically lara's ability to score big hundreds counts in his favor. but sachin's consistency swings my vote in his direction. so I will not be able to separate them on numbers alone.

instead, i will go for the X factor. i simply prefer lara' freewheeling style compared to sachin's classical stroke play. tendulkar is never boring but lara is more exciting. tendulkar is the wife and lara is the concubine. for sheer excitement lara, it helps that brian has a feminine last name, gets my vote.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

statistically lara's ability to score big hundreds counts in his favor. but sachin's consistency swings my vote in his direction. so I will not be able to separate them on numbers alone.

instead, i will go for the X factor. i simply prefer lara' freewheeling style compared to sachin's classical stroke play. tendulkar is never boring but lara is more exciting. tendulkar is the wife and lara is the concubine. for sheer excitement lara, it helps that brian has a feminine last name, gets my vote.

Good analogy.

 

[Himannv]

instead, i will go for the X factor. i simply prefer lara' freewheeling style compared to sachin's classical stroke play. tendulkar is never boring but lara is more exciting. tendulkar is the wife and lara is the concubine. for sheer excitement lara, it helps that brian has a feminine last name, gets my vote.

Hilarious post lol.

Lara would get my vote.

 

[analyst]

Lara was a genius and I admire his craft against spinners and seamers alike but he was a flawed genius IMO. He was at war with himself for the majority of his career, he did recover to make several comebacks but he did have many weaknesses against genuine pace and swing right through his career.

Tendulkar and Ponting IMO did not.

 

[0RI0N]

Lara was a genius and I admire his craft against spinners and seamers alike but he was at flawed genius IMO. He was at war with himself for the majority of his career, he did recover to make several comebacks but he did have many [/B]weaknesses against genuine pace and swing right through his career.

Tendulkar and Ponting IMO did not.[/B]

so SRT and Ponting didn't have weaknesses against pace and swing,lol only Lara
Know how I know you just started watching cricket since the birth of 20/20

 

[analyst]

so SRT and Ponting didn't have weaknesses against pace and swing,lol only Lara
Know how I know you just started watching cricket since the birth of 20/20

So I take it you barrack Lara. No harm in that, I didn't say he wasn't a terrific player, just said Ponting and Tendulkar were more consistent and Lara could have been equally consistent and forgive me if I ignore the excuses of a weakened team, because in the end a 100 years from now, all we will have are raw statistics.

 

[zaremba]

statistically lara's ability to score big hundreds counts in his favor. but sachin's consistency swings my vote in his direction. so I will not be able to separate them on numbers alone.

instead, i will go for the X factor. i simply prefer lara' freewheeling style compared to sachin's classical stroke play. tendulkar is never boring but lara is more exciting. tendulkar is the wife and lara is the concubine. for sheer excitement lara, it helps that brian has a feminine last name, gets my vote.

But if people really want to convert this into an opinion fight, No other player apart from Sachin has been called 'God'.

Er.... I find bagapath's reasoning more persuasive tbh.

 

[The Sean]

But if people really want to convert this into an opinion fight, No other player apart from Sachin has been called 'God'.

I refer to Bradman as God all the time TBH.

 

[Zinzan]

statistically lara's ability to score big hundreds counts in his favor. but sachin's consistency swings my vote in his direction. so I will not be able to separate them on numbers alone.

instead, i will go for the X factor. i simply prefer lara' freewheeling style compared to sachin's classical stroke play. tendulkar is never boring but lara is more exciting. tendulkar is the wife and lara is the concubine. for sheer excitement lara, it helps that brian has a feminine last name, gets my vote.

Heh, good form. Add to that, Lara looks hotter in a bikini

 

[analyst]

Michael Clarke won't be impressed.