Ponting, Dravid and Kallis as experienced as Sachin
In cricket the topic of disucssion is invariably on Sachin Tendulkar and when it comes to discussion on the master blaster, what is discussed most often is how he has manged to last 20 years in international cricket.
Younger players like Ricky Ponting have always said that they have often wondered about Sachin's longevity in international cricket and that he has set benchmarks for them to chase. The Ponting's and Dravid's are younger to Sachin in terms of number of years played at international level as they have made their debuts a good 5 to 7 years later after Sachin made his debut at international level. However when it comes to experience at international level in terms of Test Matches played there is not much of difference between Sachin and others, the details of which are given below.
161 Tests played by Sachin since debut in 1989
137 Tests played by Ricky Ponting since debut in 1995
136 Tests played by Rahul Dravid since debut in 1996
131 Tests played by Kallis since debut in 1995
126 Tests played by Mark Boucher since debut in 1997
122 Tests played by Shiv Narain Chanderpaul since debut in 1994
A look at the above table shows that while Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid made their debuts 6 or 7 years after Sachin Tendulkar made his debut, in terms number of Test Matches played they are almost on par with Sachin Tendulkar. Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid have played 137 and 136 Tests compared to 161 Tests played by Sachin Tendulkar.
When it comes to age there is not much of difference between Sachin and players like Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting and Jacque Kallis. Rahul Dravid in fact is a few months older than Sachin Tendulkar, while Ricky Ponting and Jacque Kallis are not much younger to Sachin, the details of which are given below:-
Rahul Dravid born on 11th January 1973
Sachin Tendulkar born on 24th April 1973
Ricky Ponting born on 19th December 1974
Jacque Kallis born on 16th October 1975
A couple of reasons while Sachin has not played more number of Tests than what he has actually played is attributed to the fact that India used to play fewer Test Matches when he made his debut and another aspect is that he has missed lot of Test Matches with injuries. A combination of both this aspects meant that other cricketers are as senior to Sachin in in terms of international experience with regard to matches played by them at international level.
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