Don Bradman - The greatest, but why?

Well, any debate on the above mentioned topic will only be called “useless”. Almost everyone (even anyone who knows only the basics of cricket) will solely accept this fact that Sir Don Bradman is the greatest cricketer ever. I have also grown up in cricketing surroundings like most children do in our country, where cricket is more than just a game. Although I didn’t see Bradman playing live or on television either, I have watched the highlights of a few of his centuries but that’s not enough for me to say anything related to his playing style or his batting ability. So I accepted the words said by my elders and those records of his. And I agree that he is the best and the greatest ever to play the game.

What does it take to be the greatest? Achievements which are unparalleled and also the approval of masses. He has both. He has a batting average which is hard to even imagine, he had the then highest number of centuries and added to that, he has the mass approval of being the GREATEST. So there is no point on arguing against it.

But sometimes I feel somewhat different on this. I feel that he is somewhat in the same category as a player playing today. Yes, you all guessed it right. I am talking about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. I know I have made a comment which is hard to believe and harder to prove and even Sachin would not agree to it. But I don’t want to prove myself right. I am just putting my points on this and rest are your opinions. No one can take away anything from the Don and the position he has in world cricket is never going to be replaced, but at the same time we must analyze someone who also has the potential to make it to that league.

Sachin has been the batting icon not only in India but throughout each and every continent he has stepped in to bat. Every born cricketer wants to be a Sachin. When we talk about consistency, we take his name,when we talk about class, we hail his name, when we talk about brilliance, we utter his name, and the list goes on. It is a mere fact that Sachin is talked about whenever we discuss cricket. Remember guys, I am not comparing the two legends on numbers as I think that will do no justice to this conversation as we can’t compare two completely different era. They both played in different conditions and against different attacks. And both have an unprecedented record to back them. The only thing that keeps them apart is, which as I said earlier, the support of masses. Both, the people and cricketing greats, more often than not, put Sachin one level lower than Bradman. I don’t exactly know the practical reason behind this. Of course, there are the potential reasons like the extraordinary batting average and his fluency etc. but yet I don’t feel these reasons as strong overall.

Even Sir Bradman himself praised Sachin’s brilliance in batting and said that he saw himself in Sachin’s style of playing. We can’t ignore this statement from him as he didn’t take a single other name and that means he meant what he said. So isn’t it good to see that someone reminds the greatest of himself. Then why are we not ready to welcome this change in our thoughts and back him and consider him in the same level as the former. It’s all up to us, the masses, to either continue with our traditional thought that no one can parallel Bradman or just rethink about these unsaid truth that it’s not the records which differentiate him but the support and approval of us that pulls him short of achieving the same level as the GREATEST, Sir Donald Bradman.