There's more to Sachin than figures

There are lies, damned lies and statistics: Anonymous.

True, statistics never reveal everything... something always remains obscure and only the discerning can comprehend the unseen. Sadly, for Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar statistics have become a 'Crown of Thorns'. A cursory glance at his record in the truncated version of the game would suggest that he is the undisputed monarch in this format of cricket. His Test record is outstanding.... amongst the best in the modern era. Yet, when you dig a little deeper a few harsh truths come to the fore. Particularly his poor performances in the last few one-day finals and his meager second innings average in Test cricket.

His failure in the recently concluded NatWest series has only served to compound the case against him. The so-called pundits of the game are busy floating theories for his failures. Some say that he is not a "big match player". They may have statistical data to support their claims, but are we being fair to Sachin? Are we not expecting a bit too much from him? The media may elevate him to the status of a demigod, but we still know that he is mortal;.don’t we?

To expect Sachin to score a hundred every time he walks in to bat is extravagantly fanciful and unrealistic. Yet, there are millions in India who expect him to move mountains single-handedly. For over a decade now he has scripted memorable wins for India in both formats of the game. Yet, the so-called discerning writers and pundits of cricket hold a collection of numbers as evidence against this great man’s achievements. For these pundits 'Sachin bashing' has become more of a fashion. They seem to derive some kind of sadistic joy in deriding Sachin.

I fail to understand why people cannot savour this moment of triumph in Indian cricket. Why cannot we look upon it as a positive thing for Indian cricket? Sachin fails and India still wins... something that has not been the case for some time now. True, he has had some failures in the finals of the last few one-day competitions,.but what about the runs that he garnered during the league stages??? Weren't these runs instrumental in getting India to the finals of these one-day tournaments?? Is any run scored in the knock-out stage more important than a run scored during the league matches? Should one attach more importance to Kris Srikkanth’s 38 runs in the 1983 World Cup final as compared to Kapil’s 175 against Zimbabwe?

To blame Sachin for these losses (barring the recent series) is severe injustice to this great man. And why do we expect him to win every match for India with his own bat? Cricket is a team game and the other ten men in the side are equally culpable for defeat as is Sachin.

Let us be fair to Sachin; let us not get carried away by our own expectations and forget his human side. Let us just sit back and enjoy the batting of this genius. And whatever the figures may say, .let's look beyond the statistics. For, did not someone say, "There are lies, damned lies and statistics".

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Mail Ganesh Krishnamurthy