Sachin Tendulkar's Rare Failure
One of the best ever batsman in the history of the game, if not the best Sachin Tendulkar holds almost every possible batting record in the world prominent among them being the highest run scorer and highest century maker in Tests and One dayers. However there is one record which has always eluded the greatest player of all time.
500 runs in a single series:- Almost every specialist batsman who have played in Sachin's generation have scored more than 500 runs in a single series. Players who have played to prior to Sachin have also scored 500 or more in a single series. In the history of cricket 500 or more in a single series have been achieved by batsman on 214 occasions. That itself shows that batsman who have minimum talent are capable of scoring 500 or more runs in a single series. What could be hurting Sachin more is that apart from legends even lesser known batsman have achieved the feat of scoring 500 or more runs in a single series.
The highest Sachin scored in a series was when he scored 493 runs when India toured Australia in 2007-2008. Infact Sachin had his best ever opportunity in the fourth and final match of the series at Adeliade Test against Australia when he needed just 20 runs in the 2nd innings on 24th January 2008. However Sachin scored only 13 the second innings to finish the series at 493 runs. While Sachin would dearly love to hold this record which eluded him, there are many factors which prevented Sachin from getting to 500 runs.
Indians play shorter Test series:- In the last two decades BCCI are focusing primarily on one dayers as that is their main soruce of revenue. As a result of this, Indian players get to play fewer Test Matches. Indian teams play 3 match or 4 match series, unlike England and Australian teams which focus on 5 or 6 match match Test Series. Therefore chances of getting 500 runs in a 3 or 4 match series is very difficult. Sachin Tendulkar has played 60 series in his Test Match career and only 3 of those series were of 5 match series. While Sachin could not get 500 runs in those 3 series, he still performed well getting 988 runs at an average of 47.05
Sachin Tendulkar is a consistent player not a form player:- Many batsmen who have scored 500 plus in a series are basically who thrive on their good form. These sort of batsman score 500 to 700 runs in a single series, but again than these players have poor series wherein they do not even get to a half century in a series. Sachin on the other hand while does not score at a phenomenal rate as his counterparts or predecessors in a particular series at some stage of their careers, he gets his runs at a healthy average almost every single series. Sachin has averaged 40 plus in 38 series and 50 plus in 32 of those series and that is remarkable consistency. In the 60 series Sachin played he has scored at least 50 runs in a innings in a series on 49 of those occasions and that is one record which many batsman cannot boast of.
Bad Umpiring:- Often Sachin has been a victim of bad umpiring. One classic case of a series where Sachin promised much was when India toured Australia in 1999. Sachin was given out wrongly by umpires on 3 occasions in the 6 innings he bat which means 50 percent of decisions went against him. Sachin though top scored for India with 278 runs in the series, finished with a modest average of 46.33. Had umpires not ruined the series for Sachin, he could have easily aggregated 500 runs in that series.
Inspite of playing many short series of 3 Test, Sachin still has managed to score 400 or more runs in a single series on 6 occasions. If Sachin focuses even more on that record and gets some divine support he could achieve the one record that has always eluded him.
Regards
Satish
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