In Defence of the Master: the 'Choker' tag

This morning, I was following the live commentary of the Deodhar Trophy final, between North Zone and West Zone, on Cricinfo. The rising star, Unmukt Chand, happened to play another composed innings. His histrionics in the last ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup is still fresh in memory. So, it was not out of place when someone exclaimed at his ability to perform big in 'finals'. But there was something else, let me reproduce:

“And seriously, what is it with Unmukt and finals? Is he the anti-Tendulkar or what?”

Say something about the God of Cricket and it never disappoints to spark a discussion, and at that a negative one, never fails to incite a debate. What ensued was heated arguments for and against the proposition that Sachin Tendulkar, for all his greatness, has never been a real performer in tournament finals. Some guy, under the interesting pseudonym 'Vinod Kambli', even shouted that cliched allegation: “I can't remember any innings of substance from Tendlya in finals apart from one against Aussies in Sharjah.”

Painfully, I realized that this was not the first time that I was experiencing these popular beliefs about Tendulkar. As a die-hard fan of his, it's not easy to sleep with these. I remember when Tendulkar got out very cheaply in the 2003 World Cup final, in the very first over, I had heard similar comments. They would draw your attention to his failure in the famous NatWest Trophy final at the Lord's in 2002, being the freshest in memory then. Someone would quip in with the mention of the 1998 Sharjah 'sandstorm' innings. The attacker would concede that but as an exception and come back with something like the “can't remember any innings of substance ... in finals apart from [that] one against Aussies in Sharjah”. Same arguments resurfaced after Sachin failed to capitalize on his fluent start in the 2011 WC final. But today, 'Vinod Kambli' did something that challenged me:

“Can someone put up the stats plz?”

I think, why not? And here is what I came up with.

Following are his scores in the 39 innings he batted in ODI tournament finals:

53, 0, 4, 69, 28*, 26, 0, 66, 41, 57, 67, 32, 45, 53, 95, 1, 41, 15, 134, 100, 128, 124*, 40, 0, 69, 5, 0, 17, 14, 7*, 4, 45, 8, 27, 74, 117*, 91, 138, 18

Total: 1853 runs at an average of 54.59, with 6 centuries and 10 half-centuries. His overall career average stands at 44.83. Perhaps that indicates that he has actually been more prolific in finals than in other matches.

That's not all. I remember how detractors would draw abstract comparisons with some of the other contemporary batsmen who might be spoken of in the same breath among with the maestro. Now when I speak of contemporaries of Sachin Tendulkar, it means greats from almost different era spanning the four decades that the world has seen him play. The names which would feature the most would be those of Steve Waugh, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Jacques Kallis.

Firstly, Steve Waugh. The skeptic's favourite as the ideal crisis manager. No doubt about his composure as a sportsman, but does it anyway place him ahead of Tendulkar as far as finale performances are concerned? Let the records speak for themselves. In 32 innings in tournament finals, Waugh scored 783 runs at an average of 27.03, less than his career average of 32.90.

Then, Ricky Ponting. 1345 runs, with 2 centuries and 7 half-centuries, in 40 innings in tournament finals at an average of 39.60, which is again, less than his career average at 42.03. Brian Lara, cuts a sorrier figure with 447 runs (1 century, 1 half-century) in 18 final innings at 24.83, which is abysmally lower than his overall average of 40.48. Inzamam has not done much better. His figures: 471 runs in 17 innings, with 2 half-centuries, at the average of 30 (career average – 39.52). Last but not the least, considered to the most underrated of batsmen, is Jacques Kallis. While his impact on any game cannot be measured by his batting figures alone, still they deserve a comparison. It is a shame that South Africa have not played many tournament finals since their re-inception to international cricket post-Apartheid, and I believe that is somewhat responsible for the non-impressiveness of Kallis' batting record in tournament finals: 236 runs in 12 matches at 19.67 – mentioning his career average beside this would be an insult to this greatest all-rounder of our time.

Well, I have made my point. Popular conceptions may often belie facts. So, it is my request to all the Sachin fans out there: memorize this. Because though the man has retired from ODIs, the game will take ages to move out of his shadow, and till then, debates will ensue. Next time, someone calls him a choker for big occasions, just mouth out the numbers.

P.S. - I may be hasty in this, but perhaps the only other legend who has walked the ODI pitch who boasts of an average in tournament finals which is healthier than the overall career average is none other than Sir Vivian Richards. In the 17 tournament finales he batted in, he scored 811 runs, with 1 century and 8 swashbuckling half-tons at 55.82, his career average being about 47.


(also published at http://thejerkbarks.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/in-defence-of-the-master-the-choker-tag/ )