The other day the ICC Official Twitter Handle posted a picture of English batsman Ben Stokes with our own Sachin Tendulkar and captioned it “The Greatest Cricketer of all times – and Sachin Tendulkar”. The ICC thus let loose an English cat among Indian pigeons. The reaction not unexpectedly was furious. For us, all gods whether cricket or celestial, must be Indians. And if you worship a foreign God you must be anti-national! And the caption got me thinking, is Tendulkar the greatest ever Indian test batsman? And the answer is most certainly not. And here is why. And before you conclude that I am anti-national, let me confess that my cricketing God is Indian too!
Sadly, there is no Duckworth-Lewis type of method to compare cricketers of different eras and determine who is the best. But earlier we did have ELO rating which gave weightage to the runs scored against quality bowlers and in difficult conditions. And in this Sunil Gavaskar has the highest ELO rating among all Indian batsmen. Even otherwise taking into consideration that cricket is a game of statistics, one can make reasonable comparisons.
I played a bit of cricket myself, but I grew up following Indian cricket from the seventies until the end of the last century. And it does not require too much of statistics to place Sunil Gavaskar at the pinnacle as the greatest Indian Test batsman of all times. Indian cricket can be easily split into two eras Before Gavaskar (BG) and After Gavaskar (AG). The BG era reveals that playing on true and fast paced wickets, India as a team struggled to score a century even cumulatively.
All this changed in that one series, in 1970-71 in the West Indies. Gavaskar, in a stupendous performance scored 774 runs in four matches and India went on to win its first series abroad. And for the first time a calypso was composed and sung for the Indian team by Lord Relator the chorus of which goes:
“It was Gavaskar/De Real Master/Just like a wall we could not out Gavaskar at all, not at all/you know the West Indies could not out Gavaskar at all.”
No greater praise has ever been showered upon any other Indian cricketer. Interestingly it was also the series in which our own Dilip Sardessai too played a huge role scoring 612 runs with two centuries and a double century. But it was Gavaskar who created the platform from which later teams have built up. Above all, Sunil Gavaskar showed that an Indian batsman can stand up to the fiercest of bowling in an era when batsman did not have the protective body armour such as helmet and guards to protect all parts of the body, as today. No one can even dispute that he also played his cricket at the time when teams like West Indies, Australia, Pakistan had a battering ram of speedsters the likes of which have never been seen since.
The West Indians fielded the greatest fast bowling combination of all times in Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Courtney Walsh and others who charged at batsmen at fierce pace. And Gavaskar held his own with an average of 65.45 against these speedsters. No other batsman from anywhere has come close. Australia had its deadliest pace combination in Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson. And Pakistan had Imran Khan, Wassim Akram, Safraz Nawaz and others. Besides, England had Bob Willis and Ian Botham. Gavaskar faced them all and stood tall. Other Indian batsmen began to emulate him. Previously Indian batsmen were known to withdraw from the sitting room into the kitchen when facing genuine speedsters. Gavaskar changed it all as he swerved or ducked or hooked as the situation demanded.
We all knew that as long as Gavaskar was at the crease there was hope that India would win the match or at least save it. He has innumerable times been the lone ranger against marauding bowlers, be it fast or spin. Gavaskar represented the plimsoll line of Indian cricket. With him one knew that the ship could withstand any storm, no matter what the tonnage. Without him the ship would flounder, occasionally survive, but frequently sink.
Gavaskar’s greatness cannot be measured by statistics alone. It has to be measured against the playing conditions of his time and above all the contribution he has made to Indian cricket. But even statistically, he has the enviable record with the highest batting average (51.12) among his contemporary players. Even Vivian Richards (50.23) of the West Indies and Allan Border (50.56) of Australia, the other giants of the era are behind him.
While not demeaning the batting skills or achievement of the other Indian Test batting star Sachin Tendulkar, statistically he is not the top test batsmen of his time as he has a batting average of 53.79 behind his contemporaries, Jacques Kallis of South Africa at 55.37 and Kumar Sanggakara of Sri Lanka at 57.40. How then can Tendulkar be better than Gavaskar (who topped his era) when he is not even the top Test batsman of his own era? Of course in limited over cricket Tendulkar is up there. But, wait a moment, does he not have Virat Kohli breathing down his neck?
(Radharao F Gracias is a senior Trial Court Advocate and a political activist)
