CRICKETING LEGENDS

.........The greatest ever....



The game of cricket has a known history spanning from the 16th century to the present day, with international matches played since1844, although the official history of international Test cricket began in1877.

since the evolution of the game cricket has been known more of batsman's game and the various rules and regulation alteration have favored batsman more.It has been an age old discussion as who is the greatest batsman the game has witnessed.
But experts,media and spectators haven't been able to reach a common conclusion regarding this topic.

Different people have different parameters to judge the greatness. some believe in the statistical figures,some judge on the basis of talent and some on temperament .

some of the batsmen who have often been compared are Sachin Tendulkar ,Jacques Kallis,Brian Lara,Ricky Ponting,Viv richards, Rahul Dravid, Sir Don Bradman.
one of the basic reason of comparison of these greats is due to the their gigantic statistical record.

BATTING STATISTICS OF SACHIN TENDULKAR

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	200	329	33	15921	248*	53.78			51	68		69	115	0
ODIs	463	452	41	18426	200*	44.83	21367	86.23	49	96	2016	195	140	0
T20Is	1	1	0	10	10	10.00	12	83.33	0	0	2	0	1	0
First-class	310	490	51	25396	248*	57.84			81	116			186	0
List A	551	538	55	21999	200*	45.54			60	114			175	0
Twenty20	96	96	11	2797	100*	32.90	2310	121.08	1	16	359	38	28	0

BATTING STATISTICS OF JACQUES KALLIS

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	166	280	40	13289	224	55.37	28903	45.97	45	58	1488	97	200	0
ODIs	328	314	53	11579	139	44.36	15885	72.89	17	86	911	137	131	0
T20Is	25	23	4	666	73	35.05	558	119.35	0	5	56	20	7	0
First-class	257	421	57	19695	224	54.10			62	97			264	0
List A	424	406	65	14845	155*	43.53			23	109			162	0
Twenty20	147	142	23	3740	89*	31.42	3348	111.70	0	28	368	80	45	0

BATTING STATISTICS OF BRIAN LARA

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	131	232	6	11953	400*	52.88	19753	60.51	34	48	1559	88	164	0
ODIs	299	289	32	10405	169	40.48	13086	79.51	19	63			120	0
First-class	261	440	13	22156	501*	51.88			65	88			320	0
List A	429	411	43	14602	169	39.67			27	86			177	0
Twenty20	3	3	0	99	65	33.00	86	115.11	0	1	11	1	0	0

BATTING STATISTICS OF RICKY PONTING

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	168	287	29	13378	257	51.85	22782	58.72	41	62	1509	73	196	0
ODIs	375	365	39	13704	164	42.03	17046	80.39	30	82	1231	162	160	0
T20Is	17	16	2	401	98*	28.64	302	132.78	0	2	41	11	8	0
First-class	289	494	62	24150	257	55.90			82	106			309	0
List A	456	445	53	16363	164	41.74			34	99			195	0
Twenty20	48	43	3	909	98*	22.72	819	110.98	0	5	75	25	17	0

BATTING STATISTICS OF RAHUL DRAVID

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	164	286	32	13288	270	52.31	31258	42.51	36	63	1654	21	210	0
ODIs	344	318	40	10889	153	39.16	15284	71.24	12	83	950	42	196	14
T20Is	1	1	0	31	31	31.00	21	147.61	0	0	0	3	0	0
First-class	298	497	67	23794	270	55.33			68	117			353	1
List A	449	416	55	15271	153	42.30			21	112			233	17
Twenty20	109	101	7	2586	75*	27.51	2271	113.87	0	13	311	34	23

BATTING STATISTICS OF SIR DON BRADMAN

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50	6s	Ct	St
Tests	52	80	10	6996	334	99.94	29	13	6	32	0
First-class	234	338	43	28067	452*	95.14	117	69		131

These records speak volumes about the credibilities and feat of these greats in world cricket. But is this enough to justify their greatness?? certainly not.....  !!!! . Cricket is a team game and the goal of each and every player is to contribute his best to take his team to finish line.Thus greatness should be parameterized only on the basis of how efficient a player is towards the victory of team.

Batsman Wins scoring a century International 100s Win ratio

Donald Bradman
22
29
75.8%
Matthew Hayden
30
40
75.0%
Steve Waugh
26
35
74.3%
Ricky Ponting
52
71
73.2%
Viv Richards
23
35
65.7%
M Jayawardene
28
44
63.6%
K Sangakkara
24
41
58.5%
Jacques Kallis
32
59
54.2%
Sachin Tendulkar
53
100
53.0%
Graham Gooch
14
28
50.0%
Kevin Pietersen
13
28
46.4%
Rahul Dravid
22
48
45.8%
Brian Lara
24
53
45.2%
Sunil Gavaskar
7
35
20.0% 

the above stats depict quite a sad picture. Sachin holds almost all batting records but has failed to reflect his performance in team india's whereas his counterparts like bradman and ponting are higher in this list. This doesn't negate sachin is a great player . For over a decade he has been a lone warrior in indian team whereas pointing has been in midst of star studded team.............

thus this age old discussion can go to few more ages without the common opinion............

so better enjoy cricket rather than judging the greats 

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