Master vs Genius!!

To most cricket lovers, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara have been the finest and most exciting batsmen of this era and possibly of all time. There have been numerous arguments and discussions as to who has been more successful, the more exciting, more consistent and eventually the biggest question of all--- who is better?... while it may be almost impossible to come to a conclusion that everyone will accept, I being a huge fan of both and an even bigger stats buff decided to undertake a venture that would yield fairly useful results. I would once again like to reiterate that these views and the way the stats have been interpreted may differ from person to person and no way am I trying to enforce any point or opinion here. It is a purely statistical sojourn coupled with some cricketing acumen. So please do go ahead- read, interpret and provide your valuable comments as to what other points can be considered.

PS: I would really not want to see any comments accusing me of bias and the like. This has been a work where I have had to put in quite a bit of effort and partiality and bias are not factors in this at all.

All stats here exclude the matches against the minnows (Bangladesh and Zimbabwe)


Sachin Tendulkar

M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

166 271 29 13447 248* 47 54 55.56--------all countries included

150 248 24 11709 241 39 51 52.27

(significant drop by 3.29) when Bangladesh and Zimbabwe excluded)


The average of 52.27 I shall consider as the career average for all comparison. The form factor (peak & slump) is worked out as a deviation from the career average. Also another factor considered will be the innings/100 which is an excellent indicator of consistency with which a premier batsman scores centuries.

Overall 248/39=6.36 and just for perspective Don Bradman has 80 innings for 29 tons giving the ratio of 80/29=2.76

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1989 start-92 end

M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

19 30 2 1085 148* 4 4 38.75


Not really considered as it is the first few years of career. But significant indicator of future greatness when you observe the average and number of 100's as it came against fairly strong opposition and away)

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1993 start-97 end

M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

37 55 6 2959 179 10 13 60.38

Excellent period for Sachin. Improvement of over 8 from his career average. 100's ratio is down to 5.5.

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1998 start-2002 end

M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

39 69 6 3831 217 14 15 60.80

Statistically the greatest period for Tendulkar. An exceptional average and a 100's ratio of less than 5.


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2003 start-2007 end

M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

34 57 6 2017 241* 3 13 39.54

Very poor period for Tendulkar. Drop of over 12 from his career average. A 100's ratio of 19 is a huge indicator of a slump and a long one at that i.e. 5 years. Also noted during this period is a very low average of about 27 in the 2nd, 3rd
and 4th innings of test matches. His away performance was good (46 in 17 matches) while at home he was very poor (33 in 17).

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2008 start-present


M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

21 37 4 1817 160 8 6 55.06

A renaissance for the great master. His average is back closer to his career mean. 8 tons in 37 innings is a ratio of about 4.6. Home and away form has been quite brilliant.

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Brian Lara

M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

131 232 6 11953 400* 34 48 52.88

overall career figures (WI and ICC XI- includes games against the minnows)

126 224 6 11517 400* 32 47 52.83

For WI excluding games against minnows- no significant drop in average

Also the ratio innings/100 stands at 224/32=7.00 slightly higher (poorer) than Tendulkar's.

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1990 start-93 end

M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

11 18 0 830 277 1 6 46.11


Early days in a brilliant career gives a fair indication of what is to follow (high risk game- few not outs) and also just 1 century (the ton was a massive 277- another indicator of things to come).
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1994 start-97 end

M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

37 64 2 3303 375 9 14 53.27

A period which showcased Lara's genius and also his form shifts. From a peak in 1994-95 his form gradually dropped close to 1998. A century every 7 innings and an average of 53.27 not far from the overall career figures.


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1998 start-2001 end

M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

35 65 2 3088 221 8 14 49.01

Lara had a brilliant series in 1999 against Australia and at the end of 2001 against Sri Lanka. In between though his form was very much patchy. Overall his average was about 3 lower than his career mark and his innings/100 was 8 (increase of 1). 1998 and 2000 were bad years but 1999 and 2001 were excellent.


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2002 start-end of career (2006 end)

M innings no runs hs 100 50 avg

43 77 2 4296 400 14 13 57.28


Lara ended his career in the best of his form. His performance in 2003, 2004 and 2005 were simple extraordinary with over 1000 runs in all these years. As captain, his second coming was brilliant and he averaged 62 in 25 matches. His average is about 5 more than his career mark and his innings/100 ratio is 5.5 and a great improvement over the career mark of 7.

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Series dominance factor

Also, just considering another factor which I would call dominance (high scoring throughout a series and dominating it with the bat).


India have typically played many 3 and 4 test series for most of his career.

I shall rank Sachin's highest performing test series ordering them by the number of matches in the series. (will exclude one off tests)


5 tests---------> 368 at 46.00 in 1991-92 Australia


4 tests---------> top 4 include 493, 401, 396 and 383


3 tests---------> top 4 include 445, 436, 428 and 402


2 tests---------> 290 and 227


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West Indies played even as many as 6 tests in the mid 1990's when the team was very good still. Later the number of matches in series involving them dwindled to 3. Brian Lara had this unique ability to dominate a series like no other batsman when he started on a run. The figures below show just that.


6 tests----------> 765 in 1995


5 tests----------> 798, 466, 400 and 391


4 tests----------> 546, 531 and 500


3 tests----------> 688, 448, 393 and 345


2 tests----------> 331 and 299


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After all this analysis, I come to the following conclusion which I believe is fairly justified. Tendulkar during the course of his career has had two golden periods (60+ averages) and an extremely poor period when his average fell below 40 for most part of 5 years. His batting records have been considerably improved because of 16 matches against sub standard attacks (8 100's in 16 games).
The test average eliminating these matches is marginally below Brian Lara's. Tendulkar's consistency is remarkable. His innings/100 ratio is exceptional for most part of his career except the slump period. He has never quite proceeded to dominate a series quite the way Lara has.

Brian Lara, rather surprisingly has not deviated much from his career average and innings/100. He does not do his average any favours because of his high risk game and very few not outs. His consistency is lower in the sense that good and bad years often alternate in his career. He has dominated many a series whther they of be 5 ,4 or 3 games. This remarkable aspect makes him stand out among all premier batsmen. He ended his career in supreme form and I feel he probably retired a year too early. His penchant for massive scores is seen throughout with 8 scores of 200+ knocks and 9 scores between 150 and 200.

Now for my judgment. After all what's the use of all this otherwise?..

Brian Charles Lara is to me the greatest test batsman since Don Bradman. In terms of consistency he has not been poor (though many players show better consistency). His average never quite dropped to perilous lows. His greatest ability was to take control of a series and dictate terms. It was a pity that his massive run making and insatiable appetite had to coincide with the nadir of the West Indian team.

Sachin Tendulkar on the other hand is probably the most consistent and will undoubtedly end up being the most prolific player as well when he retires. He has not dominated quality attacks in series after the mid to late 1990's when he was at his remarkable best. He has feasted on some poor bowling too during his time and this had added weight to his figures. His rate of scoring 100's is remarkable but his ability to convert the 100's to big ones including double tons etc has been found wanting.

Lara will to me remain the most exciting man to ever hold a cricket bat while Tendulkar will remain the finest and most consistent.Not much separates them in terms of stats. Lara's best is way better than any player but, in his bad patches he could looks the worst. Tendulkar, on the other hand was far more even. he did reach a high but not the dizzying heights of the Trinidadian genius. From a purely personal point of view, I'd go for the Prince of Trinidad any day as there has been no one quite like him to thrill the senses and after all what is test cricket without the thrill?