What a batsman! Lara, Inzamam, De Silva, Mark Waugh, Hayden, Ponting.....Sabai aye...!!!

Tara Sachin jasta chahin koi pani ayenan..

Bidhan ullu. I hope you're reading this you moron! Remember the disucssion when you were trying to prove that Lara is better than Tendulkar and You FOOL asked that Tendulkar should retire. MORON. Where are you now?

no_quiero,
Sachin has been in International Cricket since 1989, and since 2002, he has been in and out of the game due to injuries and he's been struggling. He definitely has lost the spark, but when you judge Sachin you have to consider his entire period.

To me, Sachin and Lara are two players that can be taken in same breath. They both have their positives and negatives, their own signatures and styles, but they belong to the same zone. My personal preference is Sachin, but I do respect Lara as mush as Sachin.

Regarding Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Manjrekar, I don't pay an attention to them at all. The day Sachin scores some runs, they think Sachin is greater. And the day Lara scores some runs, they think Lara is greater. They just speak whatever fanatics like to hear on that particular day.

I am not measuring Sachin by the number of centuries, nor Lara by the no of double and triple centuries.

I dont like desi team at all. My favourite has always been S Afrifa. Kallis is my all time best. But Sachin and Lara are the ultimate. Some prefer Sachin and some prefer Lara. It depends on what style you prefer. For me I prefer Sachin. Thats all. I would never turn the TV off when Sachin is playing.

Like someone pointed out, 9 out of 10 growing cricketers want to be like Sachin, bat like him!

 Critcising India's dominant policies towards Nepal is different from cricket.

I know we people do not want to give credit to India or Indians on certain deserving issues as we fail to understand that these are unpolitical issues .

Supporting Sachin is in fact like supporting any great player on earth. We must agree that if this thread had been started to praise anybody else other than the Indian player, there would not have been so many crtitics writing against it. Even if they did not like the player than they would simply ignore replying or would say I like so & so.

Since it was a issue related to our Mitra Rashtra's guy so the critics went on and on to dig his grave searching all websites for it.

When will we understand that we  draw a parallel line somewhere for nationality /Nepalism and other things. Discussing/liking someone in terms of his ability to do something is totally different from we being a NEPALI.

Apoligies if I have written something wrong . This just came to my mind after going thru so many of our threads and blogs in the world wide web & I just shared with you all.

JAI NEPAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

धोती,  Bollywood र  Cricket ले नेपाल दुबायो

jeez, this thread is still going on.

at some point we may have to agree to disagree. as i said, between tendulkar and lara supporters, it's just the matter of personal preferences. i don't think anyone is lesser than the other. for me it's lara since i like someone who is ATTACKING and who can dictate terms on the bowlers EVERYTIME he comes to bat in the middle. i have a HUGE respect for tendulkar though. he probably has wider range of shots than lara and is also perhaps more artistic. but lara is mentally tougher between the two --at least when you average their performances over the years they've played the cricket for. these two definitely are the most prolific run-getters and stylish batsmen of our era.

ricky ponting is also almost there, but he still has some distance to cover before he can be regarded in lara and/or tendulkar's league.

now stop the freakin comparison game. stats and runs are important but techniques and fluency are also equally or more important.

Khatepate: was that for me...

If No : Just skip it.

If yes: What the heck?? When did i say smthing to u??? I was talking to No quiero... well, its true, u dont make any sense.. that doesn mean u can anything...lol

Sachin Tendulkar’s century was straight out of legend — the kind of story

school-kids embellish with glee and increasing conviction
http://www.sportstaronnet.com/stories/20080126501301000.htm

 

READ IT NO QUIERO : Mula , Lara got better ovation re?! Je payo tehi bhanne?

Back in Melbourne, "Aussie Ana" was adding to her ratings. 20-year-old Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, the 2008 Australian Open semi-finalist, endeared herself to sports fans Down Under thanks as much to her knockout good looks as for her tennis skills. A nation that feeds off the deeds of its sportspersons, Australia has always welcomed the talented with open arms. It was the same 16 years ago, when another youngster, the 18-year-old Sachin Tendulkar, arrived on his maiden voyage and returned with two spectacular centuries, leaving behind impressions that still endure in the minds of the natives.

Now, nearly two decades on, it is almost as if they have adopted him as one of their own. There have been other visiting champions during this age, such as Brian Lara of the West Indies, but none has attracted quite the sort of rapturous applause that has greeted Tendulkar every time he has walked out onto a cricket ground in Australia during this series. Yes, much of it has to do with this tour probably being his last, but it was much the same in the 2003-04 series, and in 1999-2000.

Just what it is about Tendulkar that the Australians so love? The reasons have as much to do with Australia as with the man himself.

Bill Lawry, the former Australian captain, points out that Australians have always had time for champions. "We've always enjoyed champions and they could be in any sport." Peter Roebuck, who captained Viv Richards and Ian Botham at Somerset, and enjoys something approaching Tendulkar-like status in cricket writing himself, reckons it has to do with the sentimentality of Australians. "It's a new country, and its people get excited when they see great innings' like Tendulkar's." He goes on to stress that the likes of Lara and Shane Warne were "mixed blessings", while Tendulkar is not.

Gideon Haigh, historian and cricket writer, agrees that his countrymen admire anyone who does well against them, but presents a unique point. "It is partly a mark of respect, partly a symptom of national narcissism. I think Australians are also fascinated by Tendulkar's status in India. Australian cricketers are hugely popular in their own country, but they do not need protection from their fans in the fashion Tendulkar does. His fame, to us, makes him an emblem of Indian extremity and exoticism."

There is also the matter of two ringing endorsements, delivered by Australian greats.

When Tendulkar was at his peak in the mid-to-late-1990s, one day Sir Don Bradman called his wife Jessie to the television set and said how he could see himself in the young man he was watching play on the screen. Then Warne, talking about his contests with the Indian, said Tendulkar gave him "nightmares".

Mark Taylor, another Australian captain who played against Tendulkar and has been an admirer from the day he first watched him play, thinks the Bradman compliment was a major head-turner. "Suddenly people thought, 'Hold on, you don't have the greatest batsman saying things just like that.'"

Taylor also points out that part of the admiration has to do with the sheer amount of runs Tendulkar has made in Australia. Six of Tendulkar's 39 Test centuries have come in Australia, each worth its own photo album. Haigh's personal favourite was the MCG Test of 1999. "The Indian batsmen struggled awfully. [Rahul] Dravid was lifeless, inert," he remembers. "But Tendulkar was so immediately at home that it was almost like the Aussies just gave up trying to get him out and decided to work around him." Haigh calls Tendulkar not just a great batsman but a fascinating batsman: "so correct, so compact, as intricate and exquisitely functioning as a Fabergé egg."

Tendulkar came to Australia for the 1991-92 series as a impressionable youngster. His legend was already on the way to being established, thanks to the world record he had set with Vinod Kambli in school cricket. When he arrived in Australia, people wanted to see the young phenomenon. "People loved him then because he seemed to be still a boy but played brilliantly," recollects Mark Ray, a senior Australian journalist.

Ray, the author of Cricket Masala, a brilliant photographic travelogue of his various cricketing tours, touches on another aspect of Tendulkar's appeal. "His modesty is a bit old-fashioned these days and appeals to many Australians. We have an image of being tough, very self-confident sportsmen, but most of the public here still prefer the modest champion. He stands out in that regard." Jim Maxwell of ABC Radio believes its Tendulkar's flawless character that has defined him. "Australians like the humble, the laconic, no-complaining types, which Tendulkar is."

Mike Coward, the eminent cricket writer, says: "Humility and civility have followed him all his life." For Coward it is Tendulkar "who has raised awareness about Indo-Australian cricket, given it a profile more than anyone else. He is someone people can relate to."

'Australians like the humble, the laconic, no-complaining types, which Tendulkar is' © Getty Images

Tendulkar for his part has valued the importance of gaining the respect of the most feared opponents around. Ravi Shastri, a team-mate at the time, recalls how Tendulkar, even on his first Australian tour, wanted to take the fight to the Aussies. "We were at the SCG and the contest was getting heated. Both of us were batting well and the Aussies were shooting sledges from all directions. I told him that I would take care of them while he focused on his batting. He was mentally charged. I still remember him saying, 'Let me get past my 100, then I will give it back', in Marathi. Let me point out again that he said he wanted to get to the century and only then would he distract himself."

When asked recently if Australia ever felt like a second home to him, Tendulkar said, laughing: "I only have one home. But it's truly a special feeling to walk in to such a reception, when I don't know if I am batting on zero or on 100."

In private conversations with friends Tendulkar has talked about his appreciation for the respect he has been accorded in Australia. He told a senior Indian journalist friend how satisfying it was to score his 39th Test hundred at the Adelaide Oval, the home of Bradman, who would have been close to a hundred years old if he were still alive. Tendulkar wouldn't admit that in the public lest it was mistaken for false modesty, but thereby he adds another layer to his greatness.

General Peter Cosgrove, a former head of the Australian Defence Force, delivering the 2008 Sir Donald Bradman oration at the University of Western Australia two weeks ago, said, "Australians are among the most overtly competitive people on the planet. Cricket defines our approach to competition: it has rules and teams, it demands focus and self-confidence. It entails an intense desire and will to win; it needs an abundance of skill, stamina, courage and perseverance." Indeed, these are the qualities Sachin Tendulkar has come to define for Australians among others. And in so doing, he has come to represent an unreachable ideal.

Greg Baum, columnist at Melbourne's Age, wrote in Wisden Asia Cricket magazine a few years ago: "Here is a man not susceptible to human failing in any endeavour, a man not so much invincible as invulnerable." He ended his appreciation by calling Tendulkar "the game's secular saint".

Quagmire. Riche Beanaud said  that he heard the longest ovation ever when he saw brain lara broke Allan Borders Record.  I dont mind you reading an article written by the countryman of sachin called Nagraj Gollapudi

.

No doubt we will also hear the longest ovation ever when Sachin Breaks Lara's Record for highest runs in Test matches. Looking forward to that and I must say my friend it will happen within this year around.

Till than I keep my fingers crossed

 

Search:  Rediff.com The Web Advertisement   Discuss this Article   |      Email this Article   |      Print this Article 'Lara is world's best batsman'

	Top Emailed Features • The Cricket channel - Schedule • India vs Australia, 4th Test • India's tour of Australia 2007 Tell us • Ask a question Advertisements • Paying Guest-search ends here • Study Abroad-nomore a dream • Pulsar,CBZ,Honda activa Get Cricket updates: What's this? Advertisement Former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali on Sunday named Brian Lara as the best batsman in the world, just a day after Australian paceman Glenn McGrath rated the West Indies legend a rung higher than Sachin Tendulkar. Basit, a minefield of unrealised talent, had little doubt that Lara deserved the highest pedestal among contemporary batsmen. "He [Lara] is above Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting. He is right up there. His consistency and penchant for big scores is phenomenal and unmatched by anyone," said Basit, who bid adieu to the game in 1996 when he was just 26

Gaule bhai Sachin will break the record in years time. So what he has already played a lot more test matches than Lara. It would have been impressive if he would have done it on a lot less test matches. Thats why i always said trying to be not out to make your average look good  may make batsman's record seem better but it is more runs they score will always serve for team's cause and lara has done that.

Again. what will be a fair judgement. Lets check the opinion of the most successful fast blower and spinner ever who actually bowled against them.

1. The most successful and highest wicket taker fast bowler in the history Glenn Mcgrath says Lara is the best.
2. The most successful spinner and highest wicket taker ever murali thinks lara is tougher opponent.

Apart from these there are player like  Michael Atherton, Bob woolmer, Ravi sastri, Sanjay manjrekar, Ian Chappel., Neil fairbrother, David Gower, Mohammad asraful, Mcgill  thinks who is the best and this list can just go on and on.

TENDULKAR BETTER THAN LARA : PONTING

Three days after ridiculing the Indian cricket team’s performance in recent years, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting opened the floodgates of admiration for Sachin Tendulkar, rating him above Brian Lara as the best batsman among his contemporaries.

Comparing the two, Ponting said Lara could be more destructive on but Tendulkar scores above the Windies skipper in technique and is the most complete batsman he has seen.

“West Indian Lara and Indian Tendulkar are the two best batsmen I have played against. I have rated Sachin slightly ahead because technically I thought he was a bit tighter, but Lara on his day is probably more damaging,” Ponting wrote in his column for an Australian paper.

Tendulkar had the best technique and performed well in all conditions, Ponting said. “He is the most complete batsman I have seen. His technique is so good and he has played well in all conditions. To have 41 one-day international tons shows what an appetite he has for scoring runs.”

As for Lara, Ponting wrote, “Everyone can see his class, but he is also tough. When the West Indies have been down and out, he has stood up. And he has had to do it all himself a lot of the time.”

 

Tendulkar better than Lara: Sobers

Sachin Tendulkar received yet another accolade with Sir Garfield Sobers, arguably the greatest cricketer ever, saying the Indian champion is ahead of Lara with his concentration and thinking ability.

"I would say Tendulkar concentrates better and he thinks more. As for Lara, only in the last two years is he looking to apply himself better," said Sobers in Bridgetown on Wednesday in a rare appearance at the West Indies nets.

Sobers, the supreme allrounder with over 8,032 runs, 235 wickets and 109 catches from 93 Tests, however, said he expected both Lara and Tendulkar to go on and join the very best of all time.

"They are still very young and I think with the passage of time, both of them could find themselves in the elite hall of fame," said Sobers who, but for a shuffling walk and a protruding paunch, still cuts a neat figure at 65 years.

"I have watched a lot of Tendulkar and we have spoken to each other a lot of time," said Sobers. "He has it in him to be among the very best."

Sobers was impressed by Lara's batting in the second Test "especially if you remember he has still not recovered completely from his hand injury."

Speaking his mind out against the comparison of past and present cricketers Sobers said he did not see any merit in trying to equate players of different eras and evaluating them as the game has changed so much.

"I don't think it (comparison) serves any purpose. Besides, the game has changed so much. There is a limitation on the bouncers. It wasn't there before and you could bowl six bouncers in an over.

"There was also no restriction on the front-foot rule. Some bowlers like Gordon Rourke of Australia would drag their feet so far down the wicket they would be bowling from 18 to 20 yards. Obviously, the ball was coming a lot quicker at you," said Sobers whose 365 not out against Pakistan in Kingston was the highest individual score in Tests for 36 years before Brian Lara eclipsed it in 1994.

"Also there was no helmet. You realise what would have happened to the Indian batsman (Rahul Dravid) if he was not wearing a helmet in Guyana. He wouldn't have been able to continue his innings.

"Further, you could keep as many men as you wanted behind square leg. Now there is a restriction of only two fielders,"

On the flip side, "may be a lot of our innings could go on because there was no television judging run-out decisions or catches which are picked on half volleys."

Sobers, who is a national icon to the Barbadians and whose statue was unveiled on Heroes Day yesterday, went down the memory lane on his experiences playing against India.

"The Indians who came here in 1971 were victorious and it is fair to say it was because of Sunny Gavaskar. We had heard a little about him but we didn't know he would be so good.

"They also had (Gundappa) Viswanath who people back home rated better than even Sunny. They had Bishan Bedi, an outstanding left-arm spinner.

"How good they were could be understood by the fact that they also defeated England at home. They were obviously a good bunch of cricketers," said Sobers.

Sobers said though he hit quite a few hundreds against India he remembered two knocks in particular - one in Madras and one in Calcutta during the tours of 1958-59 and 1966-67.

"I remember Madras because we were eight or nine wickets down and I had only Charlie Griffith and Lance Gibbs to give company and we were able to bat out the remaining 45 minutes of play.

"Griffith in particular would push his front leg far down the wicket to ensure he was not given out leg before wicket. In doing so, he was once hit on the chest from a delivery by (Erapalli) Prasanna and for a good two to three minutes he kept rolling on the pitch in pain."

"This was also the game in which Farokh (Engineer) got 90-odd runs before lunch against Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith. He was spectacular on that day.

"But you know this thing about Farokh, he attacked fast bowlers to defend himself. That day it paid off well for him," Sobers said.

"The hundred at Calcutta I enjoyed specially because the wicket at Eden Gardens those days was like an English wicket. The ball would seam and swing a great deal."

Sobers said India had produced some very good cricketers and though he knew of men like Lala Amarnath, Vijay Merchant and Vijay Hazare in their waning years, Subhash Gupte was someone he always regarded as the most outstanding leg spinner he had ever come across.

"He was very good and had a couple of googlies, one he pitched from high up and one he released just next to his ear. He was superb," said Sobers.

"I distinctly recall a game in 1952-53 in which Robert Christiani was batting and Gupte was bowling to him. On one delivery, Christiani was so far down the wicket he could have made his ground at the non-strikers end."

Sobers said West Indies couldn't see the best of Vinoo Mankad, an outstanding Indian allrounder. "It was obvious he didn't like fast bowling and once Roy Gilchrist tested him with short pitched stuff, he was neutralised for the rest of the series".

While Lara mixes with the Australians, Ponting said he had rarely spoken to Tendulkar outside the cricket arena. “The Indians tend to keep to themselves and don’t hang around very long after play. It is amazing how he has to live his life because of his popularity at home. We have heard stories of him having to do his grocery shopping at 3 a.m.”

 

Tendulkar's bid for immortality

	Gavaskar and Tendulkar are Indian cricket's greatest batsmen and one of Gavaskar's claims to greatness was that he retired from cricket on a high © AFP

The story of the Australian tour from an Indian point of view isn't Australia's run at seventeen wins in a row or the mock-epic stand-off after the Sydney Test. No, the real story of the last year, of which this tour Down Under is a part, is Sachin Tendulkar's bid for immortality.

Till 2007 and this unfinished Australian series, a summary description of Tendulkar's career might have read like this: he was one of the great batsmen of the twentieth century, who declined into a merely good batsman in the twenty-first.

It is hard to believe that next year in November, Tendulkar will have been a Test batsman for twenty years. Sunil Gavaskar had sixteen years at the top; so did Dilip Vengsarkar. Mohinder Amarnath had eighteen, but his was an interrupted career. In terms of longevity no one else comes close. Of the three only Gavaskar can sustain the comparison. Gavaskar and Tendulkar are Indian cricket's greatest batsmen and one of Gavaskar's claims to greatness was that he retired from cricket on a high: his last innings was that great 96 against Pakistan in Bangalore, on a track that was turning square. He followed that up with a big hundred at Lord’s playing for the Rest of the World in 1987 and called it a day. So our sense of Gavaskar's career is one of great consistency at a very high level.

This isn't how the trajectory of Tendulkar's career was viewed till recently. The first decade of his career was his time of greatness. It encompassed both his time as a prodigy dazzling the world in Perth and elsewhere and his pomp in the late Nineties when he dismantled bowling attacks with such ruthless intent that Bradman was moved to anoint him as his heir. But as his second decade unfolded, it was hard not to feel that while greatness had been achieved, the promise of immortality had been belied.

See no_quiero? Gaunle bhai just posted a couple of articles where even the greatest West Indian ever - Sir Garfield Sobers hailed Tendulkar as the better of the two. What are you on about man?! Tendulkar is better of the two! What a player! And btw, Tendulkar has been receiving great ovations since 1999-00 series! Every time he went to bat, he received the applause! Nobody will ever be able to overshadow him, nobody could, nobody will.

Lara is better than Tendulkar. In most of his career, Lara had to play almost alone with very little support from other team members and he has been able to lift the team almost everytime when all other batsman fail to make runs. With having tremendous team pressure everytime also Lara have performed bravely and had achieved this success. Had Sachin done the same, may be only a few times. I bet if Sachin would have been in Lara's place than Sachin could never had this statistical success. Just you guys can count how many matches have sachin rescued for India and how many have Lara done for WI. Sachin is way under par.  

Well gaulebhai despite all your writing   your photo caption  "Brief Australian purple patch"  says it all .  He has long been shadow of the past (Pre 2000) until recent series.


And Quagmire. I know sir Garfield said that in 2002. And you know sir garfield also said lara as the best in 2006 while he was in australia. And if i have chose a calibre of a batsman i would rather ask a bowler who have bowled him rather than a post batsman.

Let me tell you one thing. The opinion during 2005-2007 would be more valid because players can judge the performace over the age of 15 years of international cricket. I remember even Glenn McGrath used to say sachin as the best but he  changed his opinion during the course of time because players are judge over a span of time is more valid.

And what can we say about this Adelheid test.  Sachin tendulkar comes and scores century where 5 other player score centuries hardly  makes a point for you to come here and say " Sachin What a batsman".  Just got to show how inconsistent he have been and you were just waiting for a series like this. He is yet to make an innings of real significance.


 As an average indian supporter or sachin fan will always present stats to prove his greatness rather than innings of substance like lara or even rahul dravid. And of course did you listen the round table talk . As all the expert like ian chappel , tony greigh, ravi sastri , sanjay majrekar said lara greatness lies in his ability to consistently dominate any bowling attack which of course sachin have rarely done. For sachin it is always stats.



Only lara can draw a test series single handedly in 1999 against fierce rival of warne, mcgrath, gillispie, mcgill.  Only lara came and scored double century after his team being 30-4 and won the test on a wicket where only one other Australian batsman could muster a fifty . Only lara can win the test match by one wicket  after his team being 100-5 chasing a score of 307 on one of the most dicey bridgetown wicket making a partnership with even batsman like Ambrose and Walsh.  Lara have batted whole day playing about 300 balls to save a test match by a wicket against india in one series.

But the real significance of this brief Australian purple patch has been the manner in which Tendulkar has scored his runs. For the first time in years he has played with intent and without inhibition © Getty Images

hahhaha .Aba Tendulkar inconsistent re? Man No_quiero. You have reasons to believe that Lara is better but I have the statistics and number to prove that Tendulkar is better. 80 Hundreds in International Cricket! What are you talking about man?!

Sorry bring this thread again but...

here is one interesting paragraph written by Mukul Kesavan, sport journalist

"Indians don't think much of Ponting for several reasons. His first tour was dogged
by rumours of bad behaviour, his second tour was an embarrassment (he scored less
than a dozen runs in three Test matches), his onfield aggression struck Indians as


offensive, his unlovely habit of spitting into his palms and rubbing them together
left desis wondering how he got people to shake hands with him and not only did he
look remarkably like George Bush, he behaved like him too.

 

Bush invaded Iraq and then managed to get the invasion ratified by the United Nations
after the fact. Anglo-American rhetoric about the legitimacy of pre-emptive war is
similar to Australian cricket's argument that bullying (so long as it wins matches)
can be justified as robustness. 'Hard and Fair' in the world defined by Bush, begins
to read like 'Shock and Awe'. "