How would Sachin Tendulkar have fared in T20s?

[h_hurricane]

Not a knock out, but this was an important match.

AUS vs IND Cricket Scorecard, , 11th Match at Centurion, February 15, 2003

Live Cricket Scoreboard: Get Australia vs India 11th Match, cricket scorecard, ICC World Cup 2002/03 dated February 15, 2003.

www.espncricinfo.com

Yep, remember this one. Was probably the only reason which drove Ganguly to chase in the finals. Very similar to Azhar's decision in Eden 1996 after what Jayasuriya did to India a few weeks earlier.

 

[honestbharani]

Gillespie was the one who pinged him LBW too anyway. I often got the feeling that with McGrath, if he did not get you at first, the really good batsmen seemed to be able to deal with him better. Of course, his greatness was that he got them so often so soon anyways.

 

[h_hurricane]

Man, just look at the middle order strike rates there. I remember watching this match, Tendulkar was batting well before they collectively robbed him of the strike and completely stalled the momentum.

Reaffirms my long term belief that Ganguly and Dravid were 2 of the worst ever in strike rotation(and precisely for this reason, I wouldn't have either in my ATG indian ODI team), and that too in an era when ODI cricket was kind of fully developed. Being very poor in this aspect not just affects one's own stats but messes up the momentum of the innings and costs the wicket of the team's best batsman.

 

[_00_deathscar]

That Dravid strike rate there is punishable if it had happened in a test match.

Surprised Kaif went that badly too.

 

[srbhkshk]

The reason I remember this match (apart from the shameful defeat) is that Sachin hit a lovely straight drive at some point of time, perhaps the only good part of the match.

 

[honestbharani]

Pretty sure that ball did not keep low, btw, which is what crapinfo commentary says happened. Its the classic Sachin/Laxman reaction when they get pinged, bowled or LBW.

Sachin just walked across and missed the flick, coz it was the cutter and held up in the pitch.

 

[vcs]

He hit some great cover drives against Brett Lee. Just batted on a different level throughout that World Cup. As good as his legendary '98 exploits.

 

[trundler]

Yeah but he choked against the real test i.e Mark Waugh's hand grenades so everything he'd done up to that point should be disregarded

 

[honestbharani]

2003 WC Sachin was just such a different beast.

 

[_00_deathscar]

What's weird is that Sachin and Dravid's S/Rs weren't all that different in IPL, playing a similar number of games. How bizarre...

 

[TheJediBrah]

Pretty sure that ball did not keep low, btw, which is what crapinfo commentary says happened. Its the classic Sachin/Laxman reaction when they get pinged, bowled or LBW.

Sachin just walked across and missed the flick, coz it was the cutter and held up in the pitch.

It was a Gillespie off-break slower ball. Didn't keep low, but Sachin played all around it and clearly didn't pick it. Wasn't pretty.

The tournament was literally called the ICC KnockOuts. Obviously a lot more pressure than silly WC games.

haha I remember that tournament, if it's the one that NZ won in 2000. It was like a precursor to the champions trophy but no prelim games, they literally flew over there, played a quarter-final and if you lost you went straight home.

 

[rtramdas]

he averaged almost 33 in T20s that too in the final stages of his career. Would surely have averaged atleast 38-42 if he played for India in his prime days. what ever be, this masala form does not count for much when compared to the 2 main formats.

 

[Kirkut]

Not too different from his top IPL performances.

If Walsh and Waqar were playing T20s, then Tendulkar would have probably hit their slower deliveries and yorkers for fours at his prime. But he was no AB De Villiers when it came to range of shot making.

 

[Daemon]

He won the orange/purple cap one of the years didn’t he?

 

[ankitj]

He won the orange/purple cap one of the years didn’t he?

2010 I think. Was the lead run getter and player of the series I think.

 

[TestMatch]

Anyone who batted as well as he did in the IPL - when an old man and new to the format and with the burden of being a superstar who finds himself forced by fans to prize his wicket more than might be beneficial for the T20 format - would have been a great T20 player. Certain great players of yesterday - Viv, Tendy, Ponting, Lara - one instinctively knows would have adapted to the T20 format.

 

[_00_deathscar]

Anyone who batted as well as he did in the IPL - when an old man and new to the format and with the burden of being a superstar who finds himself forced by fans to prize his wicket more than might be beneficial for the T20 format - would have been a great T20 player. Certain great players of yesterday - Viv, Tendy, Ponting, Lara - one instinctively knows would have adapted to the T20 format.

You'd think so but sport is weird sometimes - see also Sehwag being a far better test batsman than an ODI player, when you'd perhaps think it was the other way around. Of course, Viv, Sachin, Ponting and Lara are several leagues ahead of Sehwag as batsmen.

Which begs the question - who is the greatest player (that you'd expect to have been a real success in T20s) who hasn't been? (Ignoring any 'older' players who only took to the format way past their prime).

 

[honestbharani]

That is really a subjective question though. To me, its hard to go past Sir Gary Sobers. He would have been the ultimate T20 player. ONe of the greatest and strokefilled batsman who can tonk extreme pace and mystery spin just as easily as regular batsmen tonk slow long hops, a versatile bowler who can bowl in the style required based on pitch as well as opposition batsman and a brilliant all round fieldsman covering catching positions to inner circle to the deep, all being one of the best fieldsmen ever in each of those positions.

Just don't think there could be anyone better suited to be the best in this format, who never got the chance to play.

 

[_00_deathscar]

That is really a subjective question though. To me, its hard to go past Sir Gary Sobers. He would have been the ultimate T20 player. ONe of the greatest and strokefilled batsman who can tonk extreme pace and mystery spin just as easily as regular batsmen tonk slow long hops, a versatile bowler who can bowl in the style required based on pitch as well as opposition batsman and a brilliant all round fieldsman covering catching positions to inner circle to the deep, all being one of the best fieldsmen ever in each of those positions.

Just don't think there could be anyone better suited to be the best in this format, who never got the chance to play.

Might have misunderstood the question - I'm asking who's the biggest failure essentially, whom you would have expected to suceed in T20s based on their tests/ODI records (or even early T20 records). Can't be an old-ish player who came into it too late.

 

[honestbharani]

Silly me. That is harder to explain. But if I have to guess I would go with Sehwag still. Never was the force he threatened to be.