Lara and Ponting: Overshadowed by Sachin's magnificence

Cricket fans have always expressed their fanaticism when it comes to naming the world’s best batsman. The Little Master has always been more popular than his counterparts and in a country like India where cricket is more like a religion, his fan following has multiplied with time. However, there are certain facts which inspite of remaining disclosed do not change the way we think. Other contemporary players, inspite of having a good run, fail to get the appreciation they deserve.

There are schools of thought that feel Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara, having been there for around two decades, should be given due respect.

Sachin statistically remains an undisputed champ of his age, with more than hundred first class hundreds under his belt and an overall unchallenged career where he triumphed over the cricketing arena. He has been awarded a status which most other sports personality can only dream of achieving. Whether it’s BCCI’s weakness towards its worthiest son when it comes to asking for his retirement or the nation’s voice which stands beside him when he is deprived of the Bharat Ratna, Sachin has always been a favourite.

Lara scored 11,953 runs at an average of 52.88 in 131 Tests, while Tendulkar has 15,562 runs at an average of 54.60 in 192 Tests.

With Sachin insisting on carrying on his Test career, he has had to face immense criticism from his fans.

Lara has been regarded as a better finisher in the second innings by many cricket pundits. Ten of Tendulkar’s top scores in the last ten years came in the second innings. In those scores India won three matches, lost six and drew once. While Sachin was unsuccessful in his short tenure as a captain, these two, Lara and Ponting, carried on the burden of captaincy while shaping their career.

For a while, excess weight and hamstring problems hampered Lara’s once-lightning footwork, and the torrent of runs became an occasional spurt. But after Garry Sobers suggested a tweak to his flourishing backlift, Lara returned to his best.

In 2001, Lara was named the Man of the Carlton Series in Australia with an average of 46.50, the highest average by a West Indian in that series, scoring two half centuries and one century, 116 against Australia. That same year, Lara amassed 688 runs in the three-match away Test series against Sri Lanka, making three centuries, and one fifty – including the double century and a century in the first and second innings of the 3rd Test Match at the Sinhalese Sports Ground, equating to 42% of the team’s runs in that series. These extraordinary performances led Muttiah Muralitharan to state that Lara was the most dangerous batsman he had ever faced.

Lara’s heroics were not highlighted during his tenure as his team failed to perform inspite of him scoring 6 tons in thirty wins (excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh), as against Sachin who managed 14 such tons in 58 matches.

The most important point of this entire discussion is even if Sachin is “The God of Cricket”, after playing close to 200 Tests, he is still not among the top five players who have won the maximum Man of the Match awards.

Ponting is one of the most successful captains of all time, with 48 victories in 77 Tests between 2004 and 31 December 2010, while as a player he is also the only cricketer in history to be involved in 100 Test victories. Inspite of giving two World Cups to Australia, Ponting still faced criticism after they lost their first Ashes series after 1987. However, Aussies regained a 5-0 win when they faced England at home.

Former Aussie captain Allan Border praised him when he surpassed his record of maximum runs saying, “It takes three ingredients to make a great player – determination, courage and skill – and he’s got all three in abundance. He’s also developed into a great leader. Players really enjoy playing for him and that’s sometimes a difficult trait to bring out in people. You can tell by the way the team responds to him that his leadership skills are among the finest. Combine this with his batting skill and that’s a pretty intimidating package.”

But Ponting’s career was in doldrums when they lost the Ashes again in 2009.

Ponting nominated fellow 37-year-old Jacques Kallis as his favourite batsman. Kallis has scored 12,980 runs at 56.92 and taken 282 wickets at 32.57 in his 158 Tests.

“You have to put Kallis in that bracket as well, you put his wickets on top of what he has done with the bat,” Ponting said.

“The way I judge players is their ability to win games by themselves, and Lara could certainly do that and probably did it more than what Sachin did for India,” said Ponting.

But at the end of the day, Tendulkar, who still stands firm like a colossus, has got the others hid by the shroud of his laurels. While the master resumes play, the others plan their post retirement life.