The perennial question which
surrounded most young Indian cricket fans of the mid to late 90s and the first
half of next decade would be – ‘Who is better among the two – Lara or
Tendulkar?’ Many a cricket statisticians, historians, writers and fans have come
up with their own yardsticks to gauge the two on several parameters and
determine who is better among the two. While Tendulkar is the undisputed king
in the shorter formats Lara has wrested that throne from him on many a times in
the longer format.
|
Matches
|
Innings
|
Runs
|
Avg
|
SR
|
HS
|
100/50
|
Brian Lara
|
131
|
232
|
11953
|
52.88
|
60.51
|
400*
|
34/48
|
S Tendulkar
|
200
|
329
|
15921
|
53.78
|
54.04
|
348*
|
51/68
|
Tendulkar averaged above 40 against all the countries while Lara, despite of being the best player of slow bowling of his generation, failed to do it against India. Also while Tendulkar averaged above 40 in all the countries he played in, Lara couldn’t manage to do it in India as well as in New Zealand. Tendulkar’s numbers are bloated by the fact he went on to score 8 centuries against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in 23 outings. On the other hand Lara just managed a mere 6 innings against the minnows in which he reached the three figure mark twice. On an average Sachin faced 90 balls per innings while it is 85 per innings for Lara. Multiplying the average balls per innings with the career strike rate, Lara scores just over 51 per innings while the similar figure for Sachin is 46. Another reason for the surge in Tendulkar’s career average is the large number of undismissed innings. Taking the average balls per innings as a cut off and counting all the not out innings where the batsmen faced a higher number of balls than the average balls per innings in calculating average, we obtain runs per innings (RPI). For Lara RPI is 52.19, lower by 0.69 than his career average. The RPI for Sachin is 50.70 which mean a fall of 3.08 from his overall batting average of 53.78. These are a few ways of looking at the records than merely interpreting the overall figures.
In this article we look upon
another method in trying to figure out who was better between the two. We have
already seen the impact of playing against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. But the
analysis I am going to present here runs a little deeper. Here we see how both fared against teams when
they were up against their best attacks. In this analysis, I have taken all the
leading pairs in the world with a combined 400+ wickets between them during the
period 15 Nov 1989 till date.
Team
|
Matches
|
Wkts
|
Avg
|
|
C Ambrose
+ C Walsh
|
WI
|
95
|
762
|
22.67
|
S Warne
+G McGrath
|
Aus
|
104
|
1001
|
23.17
|
Wasim +
Waqar
|
Pak
|
61
|
559
|
22.13
|
A Donald
+ S Pollock
|
SA
|
47
|
397
|
21.84
|
C Vaas +
M Muralitharan
|
SL
|
95
|
895
|
24.11
|
G McGrath
+ J Gillespie
|
Aus
|
58
|
484
|
23.01
|
D Steyn
+ M Morkel
|
SA
|
55
|
474
|
25.08
|
A Kumble
+ Harbhajan
|
Ind
|
54
|
504
|
30.22
|
J Anderson
+S Broad
|
Eng
|
69
|
523
|
28.75
|
S Pollock
+ M Ntini
|
SA
|
63
|
490
|
26.24
|
M Hoggard
+S Harmison
|
Eng
|
45
|
340
|
30.61
|
The two exceptions one can find
above are Donald - Pollock and Hoggard - Harmison. Considering the impact
Donald and Pollock had over the matches they were given an exception and they
just fail to reach the cut off by a mere 3 wickets. Their average of 21.84 per
wicket is the best from the above list. Hoggard - Harmison pair was included as
both Tendulkar and Lara played against them during the time England was at their
peak from under Michael Vaughn, i.e. between 2004 and 2006.
The table below show how Lara and
Tendulkar fared against the strongest bowling line ups of his time.
Brian Lara against the leading
pairs
Matches
|
Inngs
|
Runs
|
Avg
|
HS
|
SR
|
100/50
|
|
Ambrose + Walsh
|
NA
|
||||||
Warne + McGrath
|
16
|
30
|
1429
|
51.03
|
226
|
58.8
|
4/5
|
Wasim + Waqar
|
6
|
11
|
354
|
32.18
|
96
|
60.72
|
0/2
|
Donald + Pollock
|
9
|
18
|
600
|
33.33
|
83
|
46.87
|
0/5
|
Vaas + Murali
|
5
|
9
|
987
|
123.37
|
221
|
58.02
|
4/2
|
McGrath+Gillespie
|
11
|
21
|
947
|
47.35
|
213
|
57.84
|
3/3
|
Steyn + Morkel
|
DNP
|
||||||
Kumble+Harbhajan
|
2
|
4
|
66
|
16.5
|
26
|
72.52
|
0/0
|
Anderson + Broad
|
DNP
|
||||||
Pollock + Ntini
|
9
|
17
|
840
|
49.41
|
202
|
49.46
|
2/4
|
Hoggard+Harmison
|
8
|
15
|
764
|
54.57
|
400*
|
62.16
|
1/2
|
Sachin Tendulkar against the
leading pairs
Matches
|
Inngs
|
Runs
|
Avg
|
HS
|
SR
|
100/50
|
|
Ambrose + Walsh
|
4
|
4
|
193
|
64.33
|
88
|
36.41
|
0/2
|
Warne + McGrath
|
7
|
14
|
592
|
42.28
|
126
|
55.48
|
2/5
|
Wasim + Waqar
|
4
|
7
|
278
|
39.71
|
136
|
49.55
|
1/1
|
Donald + Pollock
|
5
|
10
|
387
|
38.7
|
169
|
53.67
|
1/1
|
Vaas + Murali
|
9
|
14
|
570
|
40.71
|
143
|
48.51
|
3/0
|
McGrath+Gillespie
|
5
|
10
|
374
|
37.4
|
126
|
55.24
|
1/3
|
Steyn + Morkel
|
9
|
16
|
738
|
52.71
|
146
|
47.82
|
4/2
|
Kumble+Harbhajan
|
NA
|
||||||
Anderson + Broad
|
7
|
13
|
318
|
24.46
|
91
|
51.53
|
0/2
|
Pollock + Ntini
|
7
|
13
|
447
|
40.63
|
155
|
53.92
|
1/2
|
Hoggard+Harmison
|
3
|
5
|
174
|
43.5
|
92
|
66.92
|
0/1
|
Leading batsmen against top pairs
(min 10 innings)
Player
|
Tests
|
Inngs
|
Runs
|
Avg
|
HS
|
SR
|
100/50
|
|
Ambrose + Walsh
|
Inzamam
|
8
|
12
|
736
|
66.9
|
177
|
52.16
|
3/3
|
Warne + McGrath
|
K Pietersen
|
8
|
16
|
804
|
57.42
|
158
|
56.61
|
2/5
|
Wasim + Waqar
|
M Taylor
|
8
|
14
|
802
|
66.83
|
123
|
43.37
|
3/6
|
Donald + Pollock
|
R Jacobs
|
9
|
18
|
631
|
52.58
|
113*
|
47.01
|
1/4
|
Vaas + Murali
|
Younis Khan
|
8
|
12
|
750
|
68.18
|
313
|
48.76
|
3/1
|
McGrath+Gillespie
|
M Vaughn
|
6
|
12
|
637
|
53.08
|
177
|
57.69
|
3/0
|
Steyn + Morkel
|
Chanderpaul
|
6
|
10
|
547
|
78.14
|
166
|
39.23
|
2/3
|
Kumble+Harbhajan
|
Younis Khan
|
7
|
13
|
1234
|
112.1
|
267
|
58.48
|
5/3
|
Anderson + Broad
|
R Dravid
|
5
|
10
|
597
|
74.62
|
146*
|
45.5
|
4/0
|
Pollock + Ntini
|
A Strauss
|
5
|
10
|
656
|
72.88
|
147
|
50.15
|
3/1
|
Hoggard+Harmison
|
M Yousuf
|
7
|
12
|
973
|
81.08
|
223
|
61.15
|
4/1
|
The Australians were the
undoubtedly the best team during the 1990s till mid-2000s. Tendulkar (11 in 74
innings) and Lara (9 in 58 innings) have scored the most centuries against them
during this time, comfortably ahead of the next placed VVS Laxman (6).
Tendulkar averaged 55 to Lara’s 51. Shane
Warne and Glenn McGrath were their leading bowlers during this era. Together
they took 1001 wickets at 23.17 in 104 tests together - the most by any pair in
history. In the tests played against Australia with both Warne and McGrath in
their ranks, Lara’s average increases slightly while Tendulkar’s falls by
nearly 13 to 42.28. Lara has scored 4 hundreds against them including two
doubles (only player to do so twice among 5 double centuries against Australia which
featured both Warne & McGrath). Lara is also the only player to amass over
1000 runs against them and is only behind Kevin Pietersen’s 57.42 in terms of
average. However Lara (3) is the only player to score more than one double
hundred (among 11) in tests featuring either Warne or McGrath or both. When
they played against an Australian side with neither Warne nor McGrath, the
averaged increased for both. Sachin’s averaged 55.97 in the 25 tests without them
and it further increases to 66.85 if we exclude the test played in the last 2
years of his career. His epics 241* at the SCG came when McGrath was injured
and Warne was facing a one year ban. Lara’s
6 innings in this category reads 58, 0, 26, 110, 91 & 122.
Sachin in action against Aussies, Chennai, 1998 |
He often took a back seat to
McGrath and Warne, but along with the former he, Jason Gillespie, constituted
one half of the best new ball attack in the early years of the new millennium. Both
Lara and Tendulkar managed to score lesser against McGrath-Gillespie rather
than McGrath-Warne combo. Tendulkar fared much better playing against one of
them rather than both as the average of 47.66 over 37.40 suggests. 8 out of
Lara’s 9 hundreds against Australia came when at least one of them were playing
while Sachin managed only 3 from his tally of 11.
South Africa was always the bridesmaid during
their encounters against Australia ever since their return to international cricket
till 2008. But against all oppositions they were as devastating as the great
Aussies. Their bowling was spearheaded by Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock in the
90s and once Donald fumed down, his place was taken by Makhaya Ntini. Both Lara
and Tendulkar struggled against the scorching pace of Donald – Pollock,
averaging fewer than 40 with Tendulkar slightly ahead. Lara’s strike rate against
them was 46.87, the lowest for him in the table, and 14 lesser than his career
strike rate. Tendulkar also has a
century to his name with an attacking 169 at Cape Town in 1997. In terms of
batting average against Donald - Pollock with a cut-off of 10 innings, to many
one’s surprises, the one leading the list is West Indies’s wicket keeper Ridley
Jacobs with 52.58. But with Donald’s place taken up by Ntini, Lara’s average
jumps to nearly 50 against SA. In the 7 tests against the Proteas after Donald’s
exit, Lara managed hundreds in 4 of them.
Coming to the sub-continental
teams, Lara always had a liking towards the spinners. He averaged 86 against Sri
Lanka and 100 in Sri Lanka. Against two of their greatest bowlers, Vaas and
Murali, he averages a phenomenal 123.37 with 4 hundreds in 5 tests. But Tendulkar,
despite of averaged over 60 against SL and in SL, averages only 40 against both
of them and shooting up to 55 playing either one or both of them. Both Sachin
and Lara made their test debut in Pakistan and their leading pair was the 2 W’s
- Wasim & Waqar. Lara as well as
Sachin faltered against them with average comfortably under 40 though the
sample size is small. Tendulkar did manage to score a magnificent century
against them in a tense 4th innings run chase at Chepauk in 1999,
scoring 136 out of a team total of 258 in a heart breaking loss. Lara scored
his first hundred against Pakistan only in 2005 after the retirement of the 2 W’s.
His scores against Pakistan since read - 130, 48, 153, 0, 61, 122, 216, 0 &
49; 779 runs at 86.55. If there was any side which Lara failed to master
throughout his career, it was India. He averaged 34 against in India and it
further falters to 33 playing in India though he played only 3 tests there. In
the 2 tests against Kumble and Harbhajan, he scored a mere 66 runs in 4
innings.
Apart from Australia and SA, the
other quality side which they faced in their career was Michael Vaughn’s
England. England’s success at this time was attributed to their 4 pronged pace
attack consisting of Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew
Flintoff. Against the new ball duo of Hoggard and Harmison, Lara averaged 54.57
in 15 innings. But 400 of the 764 runs
came in the St John’s 2004 epic. Excluding that, he averaged 26 without any
hundreds. Tendulkar averaged a respectable 43 against both in 3 tests and 62
when at least one or both among them played.
A Lara special; 153* vs Aus at Bridgetown, 1999 |
Lara played his last test in 2006
while Tendulkar continued doing so for another 7 more years. Lethal bowling
pairs during these years were South Africa’s Dale Styen & Morne Morkel and
England’s James Anderson & Stuart Broad. Tendulkar managed an average of
only 24.46 against the latter pair as most tests coincided with the last phase
of his career. Anderson had dismissed him on 9 occasions. But against Steyn
& Morkel, Tendulkar averaged 52.71 with 4 centuries in 9 tests including
his last two in tests.
Against the 7 top leading pairs
Lara faced a substantial number of times; he averaged above 47 against 5 of
them. On the other hand Sachin managed to do it against only one among the 9 he
was up against. So when the other batting greats during the same era heralded
Lara as the best batsmen they have come across we can safely say they were not
completely wrong. Even though this is not an exhaustive way for identifying the
better of the two as it does not take into account the match situation. But it
gives a fair indication of how the two fared when the opposition had the best
talents at their disposal. There is no question on the talent and ability of
these two legends; it is up to the individuals to decide who was better and
what parameter should be used to scale.