IS SACHIN A GENUINE MATCH WINNER. Review on Sachin Tendulkar

Well,a lot of heat and dust has been raised about sachin's alleged involvement in the ball tampering scam.I decided that I would be a little different and instead focus on Sachin,the batsman.The one question that has been rankling my mind for quite sometime is that 'Is sachin a genuine match winner'.

There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that he is a proven match winner in the shorter version the game.He and Ganguly form probably the best opening pair in ODI's and whenever he scores big ,it invariably ends in an Indian victory.But when it comes to test cricket it is an entirely different ball game altogether.Agreed,he has an average of close to 57 but at the top of my hat I can't ever remember winning a match for India of his own bat.A sort of familiar set pattern has emerged in Sachin's career.Every series, he scores one absolutely breathtaking century and the critics go bonkers over his style of play.What is missing is that urge to continue on with that form and make sure that he makes the opposition pay.But instead what he does is that he tries to dominate the bowling and in the process gets out to rash shots[I hate to say this but he should take a leaf out of Inzamam's book who has scored a century in the last series 9 he played].See, not for one moment am I questioning his commitment towards his team or his country but what I am suggesting is that he should bat in a more responsible way coz every time sachin falls it is a huge psycological boost to the opposition.There are the dravids,the gangulys and the laxmans but the opposition knows that if they get Sachin cheaply then half the battle is won.

Barry Richards rates Lara slightly higher than Sachin saying ''Lara is a better batsman than Sachin simply because he tends to score big whenever he plays against teams like Australia and South Africa and the stats actually support it .Lara has scored 3 200's against the Aussies 2 of which have come in Australia and apart from that he has a test record of 375 as well whereas Sachin has a couple of 200's against N.Z and Zim and that too in India[Not a very impressive statistic at all].

In fact there was a huge debate in India over Sachin's name not figuring in the WISDEN's top 100 innings of all time.I for one was not very surprised because in his 13 year career he has never won a match single handediy like Laxman did in Calcutta.that's exactly the reason why you find Laxman's innings at no.6 and Lara's great innings of 153* at bridgetown at no.2 in the list and not Sachin's name in the list.

See,I am not trying to be critical of the great man.You cannot for one moment doubt the commitment of this wonderful cricketer but Sachin in his heart of hearts knows it and will be keen to rectify it.Well, he could make a start by winning the 3rd test match for India at the centurion.