Tendulkar's ODI career: an alternative look

The number 18426 has been repeated a million times during the past few days. This is the last time I will use the number in this article. Similarly, the number 49. Since Sachin Tendulkar's ODI career has been analysed and discussed every which way, I will attempt something different in this article, the first of two Tendulkar-career summaries. The second one, on Tendulkar's Test career, will follow within a week.

Readers will remember that a few months back I did a mammoth two-part analysis of the top ODI batsmen. The articles (part 1 and part 2) covered the top 15 ODI batsmen from about 20 analyses points and can be viewed by those who missed them.

I admire and appreciate all that Tendulkar has achieved. However, in my opinion, he is not the greatest sportsman India has produced nor the greatest cricketer the world has produced. I neither worship him (as in "He is God") nor do I go on a Tendulkar-bashing spree. This enables me to take an objective view of his magnificent career, something which, unfortunately, most ex-players, commentators and commenters could not or would not do recently, especially over the past few days. He is truly a great sportsman, both on and off the field, and would be in my top-three of virtually any such list. There will be truly a huge void but cricket will live after Tendulkar and we can appreciate his greatness more after his departure from the scene he graced so beautifully.

In this article I will look at the following.

- A look at the highest and next highest scores of top ODI batsmen, including Tendulkar.
- A comparative look at the strike rates of top ODI batsmen and the teams, including Tendulkar.
- A graphical look at Tendulkar's career - by match.
- A graphical look at Tendulkar's career - by 5 career segments.
- The top-25 ODI bowling performances of Tendulkar: and a startling revelation.
- A comparative look at the three top ODI opening pairs, including Tendulkar-Sourav Ganguly.
- A look at Tendulkar's performances in the important late order world-level tournaments.

When a batsman top-scores in an ODI innings, there is no denying that he has contributed very significantly to the team cause. Yet, it need not necessarily be the real match-winning innings. However the innings would have gone a long way in helping the team cause. Earlier I have done some analysis considering the top-score situations in their absolute form. However I have since realised that I have to take care of radically different situations such as the two top scores being 108 and 100 and 108 and 27. In the first case the top scorer has had excellent support with a score nearing his own. In the latter case, there has been very little support. It is also essential that the 100 in the first case has to be given significant recognition.

Hence I have now worked out a very accurate and simple algorithm. If a batsman is the top scorer, he gets an index value equal to "Batsman score / the next highest score". Thus the batsman who scored 108 in the first match will get 1.08 points. The batsman who scored 108 in the second match will get 4.0 points. Similarly the batsman who scored 100 in the first match will get 0.926 points ("Batsman score / the highest score") and the batsman who scored 27 in the second match will get 0.25 points. The points are summed and divided by the number of innings played to arrive at a High Score Index (HSI). The batsman score has to be either the top score or the next highest one to be considered for the index calculation. I included batsmen who have scored 3500 ODI runs and have a batting average of 20 or higher.

1. Analysis of highest scores and second highest scores in innings

Batsman	Inns	TS	TSPts	2TS	2TSPts	TotPts	TSI
HM Amla	76	19	36.0	20	15.1	51.1	0.673
IVA Richards	167	53	90.6	25	16.4	107.0	0.641
SR Tendulkar	452	126	229.2	66	46.3	275.4	0.609
MD Crowe	141	44	73.1	16	10.6	83.8	0.594
CG Greenidge	127	29	53.6	28	19.9	73.5	0.579
V Kohli	113	31	53.7	17	11.1	64.7	0.573
GA Gooch	122	30	52.6	23	16.5	69.1	0.566
NV Knight	100	26	45.6	15	10.4	55.9	0.559
DL Haynes	237	53	98.9	47	31.9	130.9	0.552
Javed Miandad	218	55	96.1	36	23.9	120.0	0.550
CH Gayle	249	54	106.8	38	28.2	135.1	0.542
BC Lara	289	70	124.2	49	32.1	156.3	0.541
G Kirsten	185	49	79.6	29	19.6	99.2	0.536
DM Jones	161	35	63.0	34	23.2	86.2	0.535
Saeed Anwar	244	60	105.0	32	23.9	128.9	0.528
NJ Astle	217	51	95.6	26	18.3	113.9	0.525
JH Kallis	307	76	126.2	47	34.4	160.6	0.523
ME Trescothick	122	25	47.6	22	15.5	63.1	0.517
GR Marsh	115	24	45.6	20	13.8	59.4	0.516
AJ Lamb	118	25	44.2	24	16.4	60.6	0.514
GA Hick	118	27	48.3	16	11.7	59.9	0.508
Tamim Iqbal	124	26	52.0	15	10.7	62.7	0.506
A Flower	208	48	76.6	38	28.6	105.2	0.506

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Similarly, the result determines the validity of the analysis. Here we have that working, in spades. The top five batsmen are outstanding ODI batsmen. Hashim Amla and Virat Kohli, first and the sixth in this table, are on their way to ODI greatness and will, one day, surely challenge the other giants. Viv Richards, in second place, is considered by many to be the greatest. Tendulkar has possibly been relegated to second place in ODIs, only because of the incandescence of Richards. Finally, they are accompanied by a truly-world class batsman from New Zealand. Gordon Greenidge, the important wheel in the West Indian juggernaut of the '80s and '90s is in the fifth place. There is place in the top ten for the feisty Javed Miandad.

It is obvious that a HSI value of above 0.50 signifies a top-class ODI batsman who has delivered consistently for his team. Amla is on top with a mind-boggling HSI value of 0.673. Where is he going to end at? Then comes Richards, with 0.641. This is an amazing value, considering he played in a very strong batting team. He top-scored in 32% of the innings he played and in these innings, out-scored the next best by over 60%. Tendulkar has top-scored in about 28% of the innings he played and weighs in with a huge number in the second-best tally. Martin Crowe has similar top-scoring figures. Greenidge, in a strong West Indian team, has an excellent HSI of 0.579. Kohli's HSI is an impressive 0.573.

Tendulkar's HTI value of 0.609 is outstanding by any standards, considering the fact that he played 452 innings, over 23 years. He played a significant innings 40% of the times he went in to bat. This, in a team stuffed with top batsmen. /p>

I have shown in the article the batsmen who exceeded a HTI value of 0.5. This is a list of the top ODI batsmen of all time. The full list can be downloaded.

The second analysis is based on the batsman strike rates as compared to the strike rate achieved by the rest of the team. The extras are taken off to derive the correct scoring rate. This is not a sum of the ratios but rather a ratio of the sums so that a 4 in 1 ball innings does not distort the picture. The ratio is called Strike Rate Index (SRI). This is a true peer analysis in that it takes away the periods, pitches, teams, bowling strengths et al from the comparisons.

2. Analysis of batsman strike rates in relation to team strike rates

Batsman	Runs	Balls	S/R	T-Runs	T-Balls	T-S/R	SRI
Shahid Afridi	7413	6462	114.7	69736	92905	75.1	152.8%
N Kapil Dev	3783	3979	95.1	37057	55208	67.1	141.6%
IVA Richards	6721	7451	90.2	28838	43065	67.0	134.7%
V Sehwag	8273	7929	104.3	46471	57818	80.4	129.8%
ST Jayasuriya	13430	14725	91.2	74419	102143	72.9	125.2%
L Klusener	3576	3977	89.9	31606	42374	74.6	120.6%
AC Gilchrist	9619	9922	96.9	53420	65878	81.1	119.6%
CL Cairns	4950	5874	84.3	36445	51168	71.2	118.3%
PA de Silva	9284	11443	81.1	47185	68579	68.8	117.9%
BB McCullum	4966	5522	89.9	38436	49313	77.9	115.4%
ME Trescothick	4335	5087	85.2	19828	26646	74.4	114.5%
AJ Lamb	4010	5308	75.5	19376	29144	66.5	113.6%
CH Gayle	8743	10378	84.2	40236	54223	74.2	113.5%
MD Crowe	4704	6476	72.6	20495	31956	64.1	113.3%
SR Tendulkar	18426	21367	86.2	77335	101182	76.4	112.8%
A Ranatunga	7456	9571	77.9	41797	60334	69.3	112.5%
Shakib Al Hasan	3688	4717	78.2	20160	28986	69.6	112.4%
BC Lara	10405	13086	79.5	46496	65595	70.9	112.2%
SM Pollock	3519	4059	86.7	59433	76789	77.4	112.0%
JN Rhodes	5935	7336	80.9	43877	60667	72.3	111.9%
Tamim Iqbal	3702	4723	78.4	19547	27857	70.2	111.7%
A Symonds	5088	5504	92.4	38426	46215	83.1	111.2%
Ijaz Ahmed	6564	8174	80.3	43287	59486	72.8	110.4%
AB de Villiers	6010	6471	92.9	28299	33541	84.4	110.1%
Saeed Anwar	8824	10938	80.7	39680	54086	73.4	110.0%
A Flower	6786	9097	74.6	33434	49293	67.8	110.0%

The results are as expected. Shahid Afridi leads the table, by the proverbial mile. His SRI is a huge 152.8%. That means, in all the 350 odd matches he played, he has outscored his team-mates by more than 50%. He scored at 114.7 while his team-mates scored at 75.1. That is out of the world and excuses his low average considering that he also captured over 350 wickets. Kapil Dev outscored his team-mates by a huge 141.6% (95.1 as against the somewhat low 67.1). How can we keep Richards out of any top ODI table? He scored at 90.2 as against his team-mates' 67.1, resulting in a SRI of 134.7%. Then come the two buccaneers, Virender Sehwag and Sanath Jayasuriya, who clock in with SRI values either side of 127%.

The other top batsmen in the top ten are Adam Gilchrist and Aravinda de Silva. I have shown the batsmen whose SRI was over 110. The complete list can be downloaded.

Tendulkar is in the top 20 of this table with a very creditable SRI of 112.8%. This is quite creditable since he played alongside attacking batsmen like Sehwag, Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Kohli and Suresh Raina. Tendulkar's strike rate of 86.2 compares very favourably with the team-mates' 76.4. Since Tendulkar has probably bettered his team-mates' average by about 20-25%, the combined effect is well over 35%.

3. Tendulkar's ODI career graph

Tendulkar's start to his ODI career was quite average. After the first 50 matches, his career lowest average was 30.55 and this was reached at the end of the 64th match. He averaged only around 36 in his first 100 matches. Then the average picked up and he went past the 40 mark after about 130 matches. Suddenly, there was a sudden drop in form and he went to around 38. Afterwards he picked up his average and reached 40 again around the 180th match. After that period, he has never looked back and has oscillated between 42 and 45. Nearing the end of the career, Tendulkar went past 45 again and reached his career-high figure of 45.23 during 2011. He dropped slightly to finish his career at an outstanding 44.83. His last two matches pushed his average up by 0.18.

Tendulkar's strike rate has had a much less tumultuous ride. Let us ignore the first few matches in which even a strike rate of 100 was reached. Then there was a dip, coinciding with the average dip, and Tendulkar's strike rate even went below 80. Then the strike rate picked up and reached a career-high value of 87.1 around the 210th and 220th matches. The strike rate remained around the 86.4 mark for well over 250 matches and Tendulkar finished with an excellent strike rate of 86.2. Look at the flatness of the curve over the last 250 matches.

4. Tendulkar's ODI career - split into 5 parts

In order to get a good handle on the way Tendulkar's career progressed, I have split his career into five equal parts. The advantages are many. This allows a start-up period, a settling-down period, a peak period, a winding-down period and a closing period. This will encapsulate the way the key indices have moved across these five periods. This time I have plotted three key measures: the average, strike rate and the average balls-per-innings. This will let us look at the dynamics between scoring quickly and taking a conservative approach.

The first period, covering 90 matches and the years 1989 and 1995, was eminently forgettable. All indices were below par. Then, during the second period, covering the years 1995 to 1998, there was marked improvement and the indices went past the figures of good batsmen. The middle period, covering the years 1998 to 2001, was the golden era as far as Tendulkar's ODI career was concerned. A batting average exceeding 50, an average balls-per-innings-value exceeding 50 and a strike rate of 92.3. This figure only dropped slightly during the next period of 2002 to 2006. However, note one very important feature. The average balls per innings actually increased indicating that Tendulkar was batting a lot more carefully. Consequently, the strike rate dropped significantly to 84.0 and the average dropped slightly. The last period of six years saw a slight drop of average balls per innings but an increase in strike rate to 87.1 and a slight drop in average.

A very instructive graph, indeed! Especially, the subtle changes seen during the last two periods.

5. Tendulkar's top bowling performances

MtId	Year	Inns	Runs	Balls	Analysis	Result	Bat!!!
1300	1998	1	8	11	10.0-1-32-5	Won
2235	2005	1	4	4	10.0-1-50-5	Won
0683	1991	2	11	27	10.0-1-34-4	Won
1360	1998	1	141	128	9.1-0-38-4	Won	***
2202	2004	1	47	42	9.0-2-54-4	Won	***
1574	2000	1	12	28	10.0-0-56-4	Lost
2144	2004	1	18	25	4.0-0-21-3	Won
2152	2004	2	78	103	5.0-0-28-3	Lost	***
1381	1999	2	23	19	8.3-0-34-3	Won
1701	2001	1	12	15	10.0-0-35-3	Lost
2149	2004	2	82	126	10.0-0-35-3	Won	***
0936	1994	2	8	24	10.0-0-36-3	Won
0879	1994	1	1	5	8.0-0-43-3	Won
1276	1998	2	95	78	7.0-0-45-3	Won	***
1597	2000	2	36	25	6.0-0-24-2	Won
2485	2007	1	0	6	8.0-0-25-2	Won
1363	1998	1	8	14	10.0-1-29-2	Lost
0944	1994	1	62	54	10.0-2-29-2	Won	***
0941	1994	2	34	47	8.0-0-31-2	Lost
0770	1992	1	15	27	10.0-1-25-1	Lost
0846	1993	2	26	30	10.0-2-27-1	Won
2331	2006	2	0	3	9.0-0-27-1	Won
1652	2000	2	5	11	10.0-0-28-1	Lost
1081	1996	2	65	88	10.0-1-34-2	Lost	***
0692	1991	1	1	9	1.0-0-5-1	Won
0856	1993	1	15	31	1.0-0-3-0	Won

Tendulkar was a far more effective bowler in ODIs than in Tests. His range of deliveries and variations in spin, speed and line puzzled many an established batsman and he often turned up with excellent figures. I have displayed in this table his best 26 bowling performances. The last two make their appearance only because of the unbelievable decision of Mohammad Azharuddin to give Tendulkar the ball, and Tendulkar delivering an impossible ask each time. The first was during 1991. India score 126 runs. West Indies were 76 for 8 and 113 for 9. The score was 121 for 9 at the end of the 40th over. Ten overs remained but the four recognised bowlers had completed their quota. Tendulkar took the ball and delivered a one-wicket-five-run over and tied the match. The second one, two years later, was even better. Tendulkar had five runs to work with and delivered a three-run over to win the match.

But what amazed me most was the correlation between the excellent bowling performances and lacklustre batting performances. It was as if he was desperately trying to compensate for the batting failure (if India batted first) with an excellent bowling performance. Out of the 25 bowling success situations there are only seven reasonable batting efforts. In the other 18, he did very little of note with bat. The seven instances are highlighted with "***" at the end. Very interesting to note that there have been 17 wins out of these 25 matches. This way-above-the-percentage of wins achieved in the 463 matches Tendulkar played, which is around 50%. The total runs scored in these 25 matches is 806, leading to a runs per innings value of 32, which is about 20% below Tendulkar's career value.

6. The top three opening pairs analysed

Partnership	NumPS	Runs	RpI	Success	%	NumBalls	Balls	Runs	S/R	AvgeBpI	Wins	Win %
Greenidge & Haynes	102	5212	51.10	57	55.9%	0	0	0.0	0	0.0	71	69.6%
Hayden & Gilchrist	114	5372	47.12	66	57.9%	114	5405	47.4	5372	99.4	87	76.3%
Tendulkar & Ganguly	136	6609	48.60	65	47.8%	113	6606	58.5	5697	86.2	65	47.8%

Now for an analysis of the very effective opening partnership Tendulkar forged with Ganguly. It is an open secret that these two were the leading opening partnership of all time, in terms of runs scored: 6606 runs, to be exact. Only two other pairs have exceeded 5000 runs together and I would like to take a look at these three partnerships which are the top three opening partnerships in ODI cricket. The other two partnerships are Greenidge-Haynes and Hayden-Gilchrist. The above table compares these three pairs. We have already seen the measure of number of runs. Tendulkar-Ganguly have a comfortable lead of well over 1000 runs over Hayden-Gilchrist.

In terms of runs per innings, Greenidge-Haynes are comfortable leaders, their compilation of 51.1 well ahead of Tendulkar-Ganguly's 48.60 and Hayden-Gilchrist's 47.12. In the 102 matches in which Greenidge-Haynes opened, West Indies won 71 matches, a creditable 69.6%. Hayden-Gilchrist are ahead of this figure with an impressive 76.3% (87 wins out of 114 matches). Tendulkar-Ganguly are way behind with 47.6% (only 65 wins out of 136 matches). Considering any opening stand below 25 runs (runs have to be used rather than balls in view of the non-availability of the latter for all matches) as a failure, we have Greenidge-Haynes with a 55.9% success rate, Hayden-Gilchrist, 57.9% success rate and Tendulkar-Ganguly are some distance behind, with 47.8%.

Now I come to a measure that is not available for Greenidge-Haynes: the scoring rate. For Hayden-Gilchrist we have this data for all the matches they opened in and they scored at a strike rate of almost 100. That is some start they gave Australia. This data is available for 113 out of the 136 matches Tendulkar-Ganguly opened in and the scoring rate is a very good 86.2, which is Tendulkar's career scoring rate. In these qualifying matches, Hayden-Gilchrist lasted for 47.4 balls, on an average and Tendulkar-Ganguly lasted for 58.5 balls.

All things considered, I would put Greenidge-Haynes at the top, followed by Hayden-Gilchrist and then Tendulkar-Ganguly.

7. Tendulkar in important world level tournament matches

MtId	Year	Runs	Balls	Analysis	Result	Event	Vs
1993	2003	4	5	3.0-0-20-0	Lost	WC-F	Aus
3148	2011	18	14	2.0-0-12-0	Won	WC-F	Slk
1639	2000	69	83	10.0-1-38-1	Lost	IC-F	Nzl
1888	2002	0	0	6.0-0-36-1	N/R	IC-F	Slk
1889	2002	7	22	8.0-0-36-0	N/R	IC-F	Slk
....
1081	1996	65	88	10.0-1-34-2	Lost	WC-Sf	Slk
1992	2003	83	101	6.0-0-28-2	Won	WC-Sf	Ken
3147	2011	85	115		Won	WC-Sf	Pak
....
1078	1996	31	59	5.0-0-25-0	Won	WC-Qf	Aus
1473	1999	0	4	1.0-0-4-0	Lost	WC-S6	Aus
1476	1999	45	65		Won	WC-S6	Pak
1480	1999	16	22	3.0-0-14-0	Lost	WC-S6	Nzl
1983	2003	5	12		Won	WC-S6	Ken
1985	2003	97	120		Won	WC-S6	Slk
1988	2003	15	16	5.0-0-20-0	Won	WC-S6	Nzl
3143	2011	53	68	2.0-0-9-0	Won	WC-Qf	Aus
....
1363	1998	8	14	10.0-1-29-2	Lost	IC-Sf	Win
1638	2000	39	50	5.0-0-32-2	Won	IC-Sf	Saf
1886	2002	16	29	4.0-0-32-0	Won	IC-Sf	Saf

There is a general perception that Tendulkar did not really deliver in important World Cup and other similar level knockout matches. Let us see what he did in these important matches.

World Cup finals: It is an open secret that Tendulkar failed in the two World Cup finals he played. In 2003, even if he had played a substantial innings, the Australian total of 359 was out of reach. In 2011, the others did the job. So his dismissals probably did not matter in the overall context.

ICC Trophy finals:He had mixed fortunes in the ICC Trophy finals. India did not win any of the three matches he played in. In the first rained-off match, Tendulkar played a good innings of 69 to help India reach a competitive total. In the other two, he failed.

World Cup semi-finals: But let us give the little master his due credit. In all the three World Cup semi-finals he played in, he delivered with bat and, often, with the ball. The top-quality innings against Pakistan during 2011 was probably the most important one since that was a truly match winning innings. And he cannot be blamed for the Calcutta disaster in 1996. He did his bit with an excellent all-round performance.

WC-S6-QF/ICC-SF: In the other matches, there are 11 matches in all, Tendulkar performed reasonably well. One outstanding match winning innings against Sri Lanka and four other good innings are par for a top order batsman. The 1999 World Cup was not great for Tendulkar in these matches while 2003 World Cup was better.

In conclusion, while it is evident that Tendulkar did not deliver anything of note in the finals, he performed quite competently in the earlier matches. Maybe slightly below what was expected from a world-class batsman, but nowhere can the overall performances be classified as well below par. Readers could point to Sharjah 1998. Frankly, I do not consider tri-nation tournaments as anything worth considering. They were dime a dozen: around 150 at last count.

As I have already mentioned, I will do a similar special coverage of Tendulkar's Test career after one week instead of the usual two weeks. This has been one tough analysis and I hope readers can glean something new about Tendulkar's career. The Test analysis will also cover some unusual aspects of Tendulkar's career.

I have a single negative take as far as Tendulkar's ODI career was concerned. This was the farce enacted during the last four years. He was allowed to pick and choose series. From match number 2670 up till 3263, the last match of Tendulkar, India played 160 matches and Tendulkar played 54 matches, only 33%. He came back and got his 100th hundred in a lacklustre manner. A retirement at the end of the 2011 World Cup would have been perfect. 18,111 runs at 45.16 was excellent. The ten matches he played during the next year did not add any value to his career.

In conclusion, it is clearly difficult for anyone to dislodge Richards from his unassailable position as the best ODI batsman ever. The reasons are plenty. An average of 47.00, a strike rate in excess of 90.00 when 75 was par, two World Cup wins, 138 and three run-outs, contribution towards a very high degree of ODI successes for the team and finally the jewel in the crown: the 189, almost certainly the best ODI innings ever played. However there is no one else to challenge Tendulkar's second position. He is close to Richards and then there is daylight. Let us see whether Amla, AB de Villiers, Kohli or Dhoni make a case to usurp this position in the years to come.

Tendulkar's long speech at the end of the Mumbai Test was from the heart and moved one and all. He exhibited immense humility and great character, typical of someone who passed the test of greatness before he was 25. He touched everyone's hearts and I could understand why his followers went bananas. Sachin, you are one of a kind. The mould was thrown out after you were made. The Bharat Ratna is something else. I have no problems with this well-deserved award, provided other deserving sportsmen are awarded within the next two years.

To download/view the documents containing the seven complete tables, please CLICK HERE.