GAVASKAR AND TENDULKAR

GAVASKAR AND TENDULKAR 

Having seen Gavaskar and Tendulkar both play in Test matches and viewing video footage of their game I have come to the conclusion that Gavaskar was technically superior to Tendulkar. His judgement of line and length was better. Hence, his success against the greatest pace battery in cricket history, a fact that places him on a peerless pedestal as perhaps the greatest Test opener of all time. Not that Tendulkar with helmet and far better modern protective gear was way behind, which he was not, but that Gavaskar was just that much better in this regard which made all the difference when it came to facing the fastest men in cricket. In this regard it may be mentioned that Tendulkar had confessed to having had problems facing the aged Malcolm Marshall close to his retirement in the 1992 World Cup when the ace paceman was past his best. Gavaskar had scored eight centuries including two double centuries against the same Marshall. Here his century (188) in the1987 MCC Bicentenary Match at Lord's has been included. Besides these Gavaskar had scored seven more hundreds against the West Indian pacemen as well.

It is more often not said that players across generations cannot be compared as playing conditions keep changing with time. But that is precisely the reason why it is such a joy to engage in this challenging task of finding out the least common multiple where such players belonging to different eras may meet and their exploits on the field held in relative estimation. The judgement cannot be off-hand and needs careful consideration for accuracy of output. Don Bradman found this an absorbing exercise and famously said that a great player from one era would learn to adjust to altered playing conditions in another era and, so, perform to potential at any rate. I am also of the opinion that such comparisons are worthwhile and help bridge gaps in eras so as to maintain the continuity or flow of the game seamless in our minds. After all, time flows on seamlessly and the game is played to the beat of time as well. Surface statistics cannot be the basis of this comparison as figures, while they reveal, conceal facts as well. Statistics needs correct reading, analysis and interpretation. It also needs fuller facts, not partial figures attempting to represent the whole. Above all, in the cricketing sense, it needs a finer appreciation of the game for one to be able  to decipher the information implicit in a bundle of facts and figures rather than merely its apparent explicit tending. So, Gavaskar and Tendulkar must be understood in terms of relative cricketing excellence from a deeper insight into the workings of the game than its facade reveals.

Written by Sugata Bose