Sachin Tendulkar never became a 'ruthless batsman', didn’t know how to convert hundreds into 200s and 300s: Kapil Dev

Sachin Tendulkar might have been one of the finest batsmen that the world has ever seen but he had his weaknesses. According to former India captain Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t a ruthless enough batsman to convert his hundreds into 200s or 300s.

Sachin Tendulkar has six double hundreds in Test cricket just like Marvan Atapattu, Virender Sehwag, Javed Miandad, Younis Khan and Ricky Ponting but he does not feature in the top 10 list of most double centurions. Sir Donald Bradman leads the way with 12 career double hundreds.

Speaking to former India batsman and current women’s team head coach WV Raman in an interview, Kapil Dev said:

“Sachin had so much talent that I hadn’t seen it in anyone. He knew how to score hundreds but he never became a ruthless batsman. Sachin had everything in cricket. He knew how to score hundreds but didn’t know how to convert those hundreds into 200s &300s."

The former India all-rounder believes that Sachin Tendulkar should have scored at least three triple centuries and a minimum of 10 double hundreds. He said:

“Sachin should’ve made three triple centuries and another 10 double tons because he could hit fast bowlers and spinners for a boundary every over.”

Sachin Tendulkar appeared in a record number of 200 Tests for India, scoring 15921 runs at an average of 53.78. All in all, the Little Master had 51 Test centuries but took 10 years to score his first double hundred – 217 against New Zealand in Ahmedabad.

Kapil Dev, who was not only Sachin Tendulkar’s teammate but also his coach in the Indian team during a brief stint, felt that the latter's inability to convert centuries into bigger scores is rooted in his Mumbai school of batting.

The former India captain added that Sachin Tendulkar should have been ruthless after reaching his centuries and should have tried to dominate the bowlers. However, he did the opposite and usually just took ‘singles’ after reaching the milestone.

In comparison, current India captain Virat Kohli has the most number of double hundreds (7) in Test cricket and only two Indians have scored triple tons -- Virender Sehwag (2) and Karun Nair.

Sachin Tendulkar, however, enjoyed a dominant batting streak in ODI cricket. In 463 ODI, he scored a record 18426 runs with 49 hundreds at an average of 44.83 while also maintaining a strike-rate of 86.23. He was also the first Indian to score a double hundred in ODI cricket.