Thursday 10 November 2011

Can anyone break Sachin Tendulkar's record?

Sachin Tendulkar has become the first man in world cricket to reach 15,000 runs in test cricket. But at the same time he failed to reach his 100th ton against the West indies in the first test in Delhi though his 76 run innings ensured India easily got home for their first test victory after almost 5 months. Sachin Tendulkar's record is stretching day by day and everytime he comes on to bat some or the other record is smashed by him. Tendulkar was the first man to reach 12k, 13k, and 14k runs in test cricket, has the most centuries in test cricket and the most runs obviously. But can anyone reach his record? Would someone be able to surpass Tendulkar's runs or centuries in future? Lets have a look at the possible prospects.

Jacques Kallis-  Kallis is another batsman of the modern contemporary legends and infact one of the all time legends of the game. In allround ability he is no doubt the greatest in the world but in his batting abilities he always has competition with Tendulkar, Ponting and Lara. Kallis' record is phenomenal. He has played 145 tests and scored 11,947 runs at an average of 57.43( Tendulkar's is 56.14) with 40 hundreds(Tendulkar has 51). So is Kallis the man who will break Tendulkar's record? Well in terms of runs and average, he might well be that man. Plus he is 2 years younger than Tendulkar. Lets say tendulkar and Kallis retire at the same age with a 2 year gap. Also lets assume Kallis continues with the same average and plays 10 tests a year. So in 2 years he will get about 2000 runs. But Tendulkar would still be ahead by about a 1000 runs. So either he would have to play another year to surpass him or score with an average of      about 75 to get there in 2 years. So maybe Tendulkar's most runs record looks safe. But what about the tons record considering Kallis is only 11 behind Tendulkar's 51 tons. Kallis has scored 16 hundreds in the last 5 years. So at an average he hits 3-4 hundreds per year. So in 2 years he will score about 7-8 hundreds and still be 3 hundreds behind Tendulkar. But Kallis is improving day by day and an extra year or an improved performance might help him to surpass Tendulkar's century record. So Kallis' chances of reaching tendulkar are pretty slim but yet possible if there is a stark improvement.

Ricky Ponting-  Ricky Ponting is another modern legend who has a chance of matching up to Tendulkar. He has played 154 tests and scored 12,487 runs at an average of 53.13 with 39 hundreds. He is 1.5 years younger than Tendulkar but he has often said he wants to play the 2013 ashes so he would play for another 2 years. At this average he would reach about 14,500 runs and still be short of Tendulkar. But he has seen a dip of form lately and after losing the captaincy and seeing Australia's recent decline Ponting has been a bit scratchy. He has not scored a hundred in the past 22 months. He has scored only 8 hundreds in the past 5 years and at this rate he would definitely not reach Tendulkar's 51 tons. Seeing Ponting's current situation he does n't seem to catch up tendulkar on the record front but being the man he is, you never know, a purple patch might see him threatening Tendulkar's numero uno position again.

An impressive youngster- Apart from these legends, there is another man who can surpass Tendulkar. And that man is the hypothetical future great test batsman who will score tons of runs for his country. But would he still be able to reach Tendulkar? Tendulkar started his career very early at the age of 16. But nowadays careers begin not earlier than a player's 18th birthday. Lets say that great player starts his career at 18 years of age. He scores at a phenomenal yet realistic average of 60 in tests. And he plays 8 tests a year and approximately 15 innings. But considering injuries lets reduce his innings per year to about 12. So this way he can score 15000 runs in 21 years, i.e. till an age of 39 years. That goes on to show how tough it would be to reach Tendulkar's record.

Thus I feel probably only Kallis has a slight chance of reaching Tendulkar because he is the closest with a little bit of age on his side and form too. While the hypothetical player might never reach there because test cricket's popularity is dwindling day by day among youngsters and that great hypothetical player might never get to play sufficient number of tests even if he wanted to. Cricket is becoming commercial day by day and who knows as test cricket becomes more and more extinct, Sachin Tendulkar's record might stay forever.

3 comments:

  1. what about sangakkara

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  2. What about Cook (Eng). He is just 27 and has already scored 20 Centuries so far?
    G.Smith (SA) is 31 yrs old & has scored 25 Centuries so far?
    These players are in line for the ultimate record.

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