Sachin Tendulkar holds more batting records in cricket than most other cricketers put together: most runs, most matches, most centuries; the list is nigh endless. Tendulkar batted for most of his career at No. 4 in Tests, a position usually reserved for the most vital batsman in the line-up. Shiamak Unwalla looks at the numbers to see if Tendulkar is statistically the best No. 4 batsman of all time.
NOTE: The numbers considered here are only when Tendulkar batted at No. 4 in the line-up. This excludes times he would ordinarily have come in at two-down but dropped lower to accommodate a night-watchman or a change in strategy.
On the face of it, Tendulkar easily wins the “battle of the No. 4s” based on runs scored. There is a difference of around 9,000 runs between Tendulkar and the man at No. 10 on this list, Martin Crowe. Let that sink in; 9,000 runs is more than anyone in England or Pakistan have ever scored in their entire careers. And that is merely the difference of runs between Tendulkar and Crowe batting at No. 4 alone. Here is the list of top 10 run-scorers at the No. 4 position in Tests:
These were the aggregates. Let us look at how the top batsmen have fared away from home; this is usually what separates the good from the great. Here is the list of top 10 run-scorers away from home:
Name
Team
Period
M
R
HS
Ave
100s
50s
Sachin Tendulkar
India
1992-2012
87
7083
248*
57.58
24
30
Jacques Kallis
South Africa
1998-2013
53
4126
182*
58.11
16
16
Brian Lara
West Indies, ICC
1990-2006
48
4112
277
50.14
13
16
Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
1999-2014
62
3974
275
40.14
10
12
Younis Khan
Pakistan
2002-2015
45
3768
213
57.96
13
13
Javed Miandad
Pakistan
1978-1993
54
3735
271
51.16
9
21
Mark Waugh
Australia
1993-2002
57
3222
153*
40.78
7
18
Kevin Pietersen
England
2006-2014
44
2693
227
40.8
6
12
Martin Crowe
New Zealand
1983-1995
41
2593
188
43.21
8
9
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Pakistan
1995-2005
37
2411
200*
46.36
7
11
Again, unsurprisingly, Tendulkar is at the top with as many as 7,083 runs. But once again, in terms of average it is Kallis (57.58) who leads the way ahead of Younis Khan (57.96) and Tendulkar (57.58). It should be noted that Younis has played a lot in UAE, and his overseas numbers reflect that. READ: The leading run-getters in Test cricket for each team
Let us now look at a country-wise break-up of No. 4 batsmen. Given that Tendulkar made his debut in 1989, let us look at how opposition batsmen have done in every country since that year:
Host Country
M
R
HS
Ave
100s
50s
England
170
84595
311*
30.69
154
405
Australia
148
70226
277
26.28
108
332
West Indies
121
55952
212
29.3
112
254
New Zealand
103
50306
275*
32.02
104
242
Sri Lanka
108
49861
333
27.53
90
239
South Africa
113
49834
262
25.21
78
205
India
99
48286
275
29.12
89
218
Pakistan
70
32310
334*
28.92
56
150
Bangladesh
50
27171
319
44.54
72
118
Zimbabwe
52
24495
270
33.87
45
119
UAE
22
22936
278*
33.58
55
99
Visiting batsmen seem to enjoy higher averages in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, UAE, New Zealand, and England, while they have traditionally struggled in Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, India, and Pakistan.
However, the numbers look quite different if one looks at the numbers post 2000:
Host Country
M
R
HS
Ave
100s
50s
100
England
107
53300
311*
28.53
91
251
247
Australia
87
43238
241*
27.14
69
195
239
West Indies
76
38063
212
32.03
84
174
149
Sri Lanka
78
36649
333
26.75
61
167
186
India
69
36012
275
31.15
74
162
144
South Africa
77
35565
262
25.82
61
144
209
New Zealand
61
30083
218
30.85
61
144
138
Bangladesh
49
26242
319
45.24
70
115
58
UAE
22
22936
278*
33.58
55
99
90
Pakistan
32
16496
309
32.21
34
63
63
Zimbabwe
30
14828
270
35.64
25
73
43
Of late, England has become much harder to bat in, while West Indies and India have become considerably easier. South Africa, Australia, and Sri Lanka remain challenging though.
Given how vastly different the three countries are in terms of conditions and skills needed to survive — ability to play pace, bounce and spin — let us look at the top overseas batsmen in South Africa, Australia, and Sri Lanka:
Name
Team
Period
M
R
HS
Ave
100s
50s
Sachin Tendulkar
India
1992-2012
41
3385
241*
54.59
13
12
Brian Lara
West Indies
1992-2005
27
2839
277
60.4
9
10
Wally Hammond
England
1927-1947
20
1336
181
47.71
3
7
Martin Crowe
New Zealand
1984-1995
16
1239
188
47.65
3
6
Kevin Pietersen
England
2006-2014
21
1152
227
37.16
2
3
Younis Khan
Pakistan
2002-2015
15
1031
177
42.95
2
6
Jacques Kallis
South Africa
2001-2012
12
969
147
53.83
2
7
Virat Kohli
India
2013-2015
6
964
169
80.33
5
2
Graham Thorpe
England
1994-2003
13
889
123
46.78
2
4
Ken Barrington
England
1964-1966
9
886
148*
80.54
4
4
It stands to reason that South African, Australian, and Sri Lankan players would not feature prominently on this list since their record at home would not be included. As such, Kallis still manages to feature. At this point it is no surprise that Tendulkar once again heads the charts, but his average pales in comparison with those of Ken Barrington (80.54) and Virat Kohli (80.33). The sample sizes of both men are, however, too small: only 15 Tests between them as opposed to Tendulkar’s 41.
Meanwhile, Tendulkar still averages a superb 54.59 collectively in these countries. It should be noted though, that Tendulkar has a lacklustre record in Pakistan, where he averages only 40.25. Of course, that is still a decent average.
Now let us look at where Tendulkar stands when pitted against the best team of his era — Australia. For much of the 1990s and certainly the 2000s, Australia were nigh invincible. Here is a list of the 10 leading run-scorers against Australia (whether home or away) in Tests since 1989:
Name
Team
Period
M
R
HS
Ave
100s
50s
Sachin Tendulkar
India
1992-2013
35
3060
241*
56.66
10
13
Brian Lara
West Indies
1992-2005
22
2152
277
58.16
8
7
Jacques Kallis
South Africa
2001-2012
21
1504
147
45.57
4
8
Kevin Pietersen
England
2006-2014
19
1150
227
37.09
1
7
Nasser Hussain
England
1997-2003
15
948
207
36.46
2
5
Virat Kohli
India
2014-2015
4
692
169
86.5
4
1
Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
2004-2012
11
664
105
33.2
2
3
Robin Smith
England
1989-1993
9
618
143
41.2
2
3
Saleem Malik
Pakistan
1994-1998
5
602
237
75.25
2
1
Younis Khan
Pakistan
2002-2014
5
589
213
65.44
2
3
Once again the usual suspects Tendulkar, Kallis, and Lara feature in the top three. For once, Kallis’ average is not the highest. Kohli (86.5) holds that honour, followed by Saleem Malik (75.25) — thanks to his epic 237 at Rawalpindi — and Younis (65.44). But while none of these three men have 1,000 runs at No. 4 against Australia, Tendulkar has 3,060 at 56.66. It should also be noted that of the three, none have played more than 5 Tests at No. 4, and so the sample size is quite small. Tendulkar meanwhile played 35 Tests, most of which were when Australia were the undisputed best team in the world.
That Tendulkar is excellent at setting up games cannot be doubted. But how good was he at batting in the toughest of conditions; the fourth innings? Here is a list of the leading run-scorers at No. 4 in the fourth innings of a Test since 1989:
Name
Team
Period
M
R
HS
Ave
100s
50s
Sachin Tendulkar
India
1992-2013
58
1354
136
35.63
2
7
Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
1999-2014
33
817
123
45.38
3
3
Mark Waugh
Australia
1993-2002
32
788
116
46.35
2
2
Younis Khan
Pakistan
2002-2015
22
712
131*
71.2
2
4
Brian Lara
West Indies
1992-2006
29
696
122
29
1
4
Aravinda de Silva
Sri Lanka
1989-2000
17
635
143*
57.72
1
4
Ross Taylor
New Zealand
2007-2015
16
569
107
51.72
1
3
Jacques Kallis
South Africa
1998-2013
33
541
85
30.05
0
5
Kevin Pietersen
England
2006-2014
26
519
101
27.31
1
2
Virat Kohli
India
2014-2015
6
441
141
88.2
2
2
To sum up, Tendulkar has scored more runs than anyone at No. 4. His average is bettered only marginally by Kallis, but Tendulkar has more runs and centuries. Tendulkar has scored more runs overseas than anyone, again at an average only fractionally less than that of Kallis. He has also done exceedingly well in countries where most visiting batsmen struggle. He did exceptionally well against the best team of his era, though has struggled in the fourth innings.
In addition, Tendulkar has scored over 400 runs in a series at No. 4 on four occasions, while he has averaged 100 or more at No. 4 ten times, two of which included averages of over 240 (he has also averaged 96.66 and 93 in two other series). He scored two centuries at No. 4 in a series on nine occasions, and hit at least three half-centuries in a series 11 times.
Is Tendulkar statistically the greatest batsman the world has ever seen? Maybe not; but the numbers suggest that he is certainly among the greatest No. 4 batsmen the world has ever seen.
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek who loves cricket more than cricketers. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)
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