Published: Apr 25, 2014, 04:46 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 25, 2014, 04:46 PM (IST)
Sydney: Apr 25, 2014
The Australian media has slammed a new Indian book titled ‘Greater Than Bradman’ which argues that Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar is better than late Australian legend Sir Don Bradman, saying that the author of the book is ‘dreaming’.
News.com.au dismissed the theory in India that when Tendulkar was playing, the jury was out on the greatest batsman of all time, and stated that there was never, and never will be, anyone better than Bradman.
Stating that author Rudolph Lambert Fernandez cashed in on Tendulkar ‘triumphalism’ in the wake of the Little Master’s retirement in November last year, the report gave some reasons to rebuke the ‘ridiculous claim’ that Tendulkar was better than Bradman, the first of which being the issue of pitches.
The report said that Bradman played on tough, unscored, uncovered pitches as compared to Tendulkar, who played in the era of batsman-friendly, covered pitches, adding that Bradman coped with adulation just as admirably as Tendulkar, especially in a time when the Australia was desperate for a hero.
The report also said that Bradman played predominantly against England, which was the strongest opposition in his day, while Tendulkar made his highest Test score of 248 not out against Bangladesh and piled on runs against Zimbabwe, too, adding that Bradman also never failed to dominate in the only form available to him- first-class cricket.
Tendulkar travelled round the world in planes and stayed in top hotels while Bradman used to get on boats for six weeks, and the report also said that Bradman had no rivals for superiority whereas Tendulkar had to battle with legends like Brain Lara for being the best of his generation.
Bradman averaged 99.94 in Tests and Tendulkar 53.78, the report said and added that this proved that ‘unquestionably the greatest batsman in the game, arguably the greatest cricketer ever, and one of the finest sportsmen of all time, Bradman was so far ahead of the competition as to render comparisons meaningless and to transcend the game’.
