Who is better- Lara or Tendulkar?

[Hanuma]

one good reason is that Lara has the ability to play match-winning innings (in test matches), where has Tendulkar has chocked when he has had the oppurtunity to to do so. Chennai 99 is a perfect example of this.

Secondly even though both are among the most consistent batsmen of all time, when Lara gets a hundred he really hurts the opposition with some massive scores, where has Sachin may get a hundred and not really destroy the opposition...

which is exactly why lara is superior.

+ anyone that could actually force west indians into a debate about viv richards must be special.

 

[kendall]

Surley if a batsman has got too a hundred then a lot of damage has already been done?

 

[aussie]

right.....so because ian chappel says lara is better surely cant mean that anything other than that can possibly be right, how is the probability if sachin getting hundreds erased? he nearly got one against pakistan in the first test.

i'm not stating my argument on just what Chappel said, he has made much sense... & i think u missed the point their sledger, i didn't say the probability of Sachin getting a hundred is erased i am saying (or ian chappell is saying ) that when sachin gets to a hundred he doesn't always carry on to make big hundreds like Lara does.

Btw since we have been arguing over this, who do you think is better

 

[Hanuma]

not if the batsman is in a kp situation.

 

[aussie]

Surley if a batsman has got too a hundred then a lot of damage has already been done?

yes. but if his fellow batsmen dont score heavily it wont do much damage to the opposition has was the case with Slater at the SCG 6 years ago or Lara in Antigua 6 years ago as well....

 

[Hanuma]

lara is a big match player....a born winner and a man that invariably has and will take bad situations and make them good or good situations and make them great.

in the midst of all this he is capable of special things that tendulkar has yet to show.

both brilliant...nay, genius....batsmen....but lara has the edge for his more mythical qualities.

 

[shankar]

one good reason is that Lara has the ability to play match-winning innings (in test matches), where has Tendulkar has chocked when he has had the oppurtunity to to do so. Chennai 99 is a perfect example of this.

Secondly even though both are among the most consistent batsmen of all time, when Lara gets a hundred he really hurts the opposition with some massive scores, where has Sachin may get a hundred and not really destroy the opposition...

In that 153*, didnt Lara give a chance near the very end which Healy dropped. Now if Healy had caught that would that have made Lara a choker? Would that have diminished the quality of the innings?

 

[Sanz]

Lara for sure, all who say Tendulkar give me a good reason why you think he's better????

Vs. Australia - Lara 51.45, Sachin 53.11
In Australia - Lara 40.11, Sachin 54.15
Away - Lara 47.17, Sachin 56.58
2nd team innings - Lara 38.47, Sachin 46.48

Oh and I am sure you dont want me to Compare Sachin's ODI performances with that of LARA.

 

[aussie]

In that 153*, didnt Lara give a chance near the very end which Healy dropped. Now if Healy had caught that would that have made Lara a choker? Would that have diminished the quality of the innings?

interesting point but the thing is it was a good delivery from Dizzy while Tendulkar tried to play an unnecessary hit over the top off saqlain in my opinion which tells me that the pressure of the situation got to him. Didn't Sachin cry in pavillion after he got out???

 

[aussie]

Vs. Australia - Lara 51.45, Sachin 53.11
In Australia - Lara 40.11, Sachin 54.15
Away - Lara 47.17, Sachin 56.58
2nd team innings - Lara 38.47, Sachin 46.48

Oh and I am sure you dont want me to Compare Sachin's ODI performances with that of LARA.

1.intersting stats, i could have swore Lara has a better record againts the aussies home & away i got to check that myself just to clarify.

2. Na ODI's has nothing to do with my argument, and has my man Geoff Boycott always says ODI are for entertaiment, test cricket is where the true stature of a batsman is tested...

 

[Sanz]

interesting point but the thing is it was a good delivery from Dizzy while Tendulkar tried to play an unnecessary hit over the top off saqlain in my opinion which tells me that the pressure of the situation got to him. Didn't Sachin cry in pavillion after he got out???

So the difference between Lara and Tendulkar is just one dropped catch or one unnecessary hit . Yeah man the pressure got him so much that he ended up scoring 136 runs and was in the middle for almost every run scored in the second inning.

 

[aussie]

So the difference between Lara and Tendulkar is just one dropped catch or one unnecessary hit . Yeah man the pressure got him so much that he ended up scoring 136 runs and was in the middle for almost every run scored in the second inning.

oh dear , Sanz mate even though he batted almost throughout India's chase where he was handling the pressure of the chase so well, when India were in touching distance of the target thats when the pressure got to Sachin and he threw his wicket.

 

[archie mac]

I think Lara at his best, is about as good as batting can get.

"he will always be in the caterrgory of the brillliant if unsound ones. He seems to live for the exuberance of the moment"

These words were written by PGH Fender about another batsman, but I think they fit Lara as well.

 

[Anil]

oh dear , Sanz mate even though he batted almost throughout India's chase where he was handling the pressure of the chase so well, when India were in touching distance of the target thats when the pressure got to Sachin and he threw his wicket.

he did not "throw" his wicket as you put it, he was watchful in the morning session and then started blazing away in the afternoon session and got the team to within 16 runs of the target when he mi**** a lofted shot and was caught....lara was dropped, tendulkar was not, does not diminish either innings in my eyes...when the fact that the last 4 batsmen could not muster 16 runs between them and the fact that the top and middle order barring tendulkar did not make a significant contribution is conveniently forgotten and the only player to play well in that indian innings is branded a choker and the cause of that defeat, the analysis becomes utterly ridiculous!!

 

[C_C]

I wont argue my point too much (because i've already done it to death before) but The reason i consider Tendulkar to be overall superior to lara are these:

1. Tendulkar is more consistent than Lara
2. Tendulkar averages better than Lara against good/great attacks.
3. Tendulkar is far more versatile than Lara overall and this is indicated by the fact that while their home averages are about the same(with Lara having a slight advantage), Tendulkar has a vastly superior away average.
4. Tendy averages 14 pts more than lara in AUS, 23 pts in England, 24 pts in Pak and 11 pts in SL. Lara averages more than Tendy by 4 pts in RSA and 3 pts in NZ. Suffice to say Tendy vastly outstrips Lara in foreign conditions
5. Lara has NEVER averaged 40+ away from home against a great attack. He never averaged 40+ in Pakistan when Wasim-Waqar were playing, never averaged 40+ in AUS when McWarne were playing and never averaged 40+ in RSA when Donald-Pollock were playing. Tendy has against two of the three abovementioned attack in their backyard.

6. Lara failed to score a single ton against Donald-Pollock or Wasim-Waqar. Tendy has done that against both of them

7. Lara's average has crossed the 50+ barrier and he's done superlatively well in the 2000s- when the pitches were getting flatter and half of the good-great attacks had retired.

8. Tendy has faced a superior bowling opposition throughout his career than lara has. The only worldclass/great bowlers that lara has faced but Tendulkar hasnt over the span of a full series is Kumble and Srinath. The worldclass/great bowlers that Tendy has faced but Lara hasnt are Ambrose, Walsh, Imran Khan,Ian Bishop, Abdul Qadir and Richard Hadlee.

9. Aesthetically speaking(which is least important in my books), Tendy is considerably better than lara. Tendy never had a glaring technical flaw in his batting like Lara did throughout the 90s, when he didnt know where his offstump was and ended up giving the slip cordon regular catching pratice off balls pitched just short of goodlength and moving out a tad. Tendy by contrast, has only been occasionally vulnerable to the incutter.
Tendy's technique is superior to Lara's.

10. Lets not even bother going to ODIs, as the only batsmen comparable to Tendy in the history of ODIs are Viv and Bevan.

 

[archie mac]

I 9. Aesthetically speaking(which is least important in my books), Tendy is considerably better than lara. Tendy never had a glaring technical flaw in his batting like Lara did throughout the 90s, when he didnt know where his offstump was and ended up giving the slip cordon regular catching pratice off balls pitched just short of goodlength and moving out a tad. Tendy by contrast, has only been occasionally vulnerable to the incutter.
Tendy's technique is superior to Lara's.

I much prefer to watch Lara in full flight, and I think him the prettier batsman. In fact I think Dravid more Aesthetically pleasing than Tendulkar.

 

[Anil]

7. Lara's average has crossed the 50+ barrier and he's done superlatively well in the 2000s- when the pitches were getting flatter and half of the good-great attacks had retired.

not completely true...lara's average was in the 60s in the 90s for quite some time when he made those huge scores, 375, 277* etc...he then had a serious slump which saw the average drop below 50 and has resurrected himself in the 2000s as you mentioned...

Tendy's technique is superior to Lara's.

but lara's genius with the bat has more often than not overcome these shortcomings...i remember when he came on his first tour to india...he failed with the bat in the first two tests and was not able to adjust to indian spinners in spinner-friendly conditions...in the final test, he made a superb 91, he did not even use much footwork, just stood there and blasted the indian bowlers to all parts of the ground, an awesome display of his genius....

 

[C_C]

I much prefer to watch Lara in full flight, and I think him the prettier batsman. In fact I think Dravid more Aesthetically pleasing than Tendulkar.

Well preference is a personal matter and purely subjective...i wasnt hinting towards that..i was talking more about technique.

 

[C_C]

but lara's genius with the bat has more often than not overcome these shortcomings...i remember when he came on his first tour to india...he failed with the bat in the first two tests and was not able to adjust to indian spinners in spinner-friendly conditions...in the final test, he made a superb 91, he did not even use much footwork, just stood there and blasted the indian bowlers to all parts of the ground, an awesome display of his genius....

True. He is great, no doubt about it. I dont intend to say that Tendy is great and Lara is rubbish. I just am of the viewpoint that relatively speaking, Tendulkar is superior to Lara.

 

[archie mac]

Well preference is a personal matter and purely subjective...i wasnt hinting towards that..i was talking more about technique.

I agree Tendular is the more dependable. I watched Lara score a big hundred on the SCG, one of the highlights of my Cricket watching. I think of late Tendulkar has lost a little of his 'instict' and has become a little mechanical. Not 'having a go' just an observation.