Express Cricket

Nowadays this new T20 thing is being injected into our systems. I do not like it at all, as of now. Maybe I will start to, once I have no option left, other than to watch this "further-shortened" version of the game. Further, seeing the less capable teams scoring at an express rate, with no respect for the bowlers, makes me wonder, if anybody in the future would be interested to pursue his career as a bowler in this game. Just watch what Sri Lanka has been upto! Scoring 260+ in 20 overs!

I never like the manner in which the Sri Lankans play their cricket, especially their batting. They always believe in hitting the ball hard, no grace in their batting at all. (Except for yesteryears Arjuna Ranatunga and Arvind De Silva). To dig into the matter more, I decided to compare two legends of our times, Sanath Jaysuriya and Sachin Tendulkar. I decided to check who is technically more correct and successful batsman.

Let us take up the ODIs first. We also choose one of the best bowling line-up of our times Australia. This sort of rationalizes the analysis. Jaysuriya has played 43 innings so far against Australia at an average of 23.10 scoring an aggregate of 924 runs. Sachin on the hand has played 47 innings, at an average of 46.45 scoring an aggregate of 2183 runs! Since there is not much difference in the number of innings played, I think the numbers confirm the class of these two players in this version of the game against quality bowling.

Now for the Test Cricket version, which actually "tests" the consistency, class and longevity of a player. Again we rationalize against Australia. Jaysuriya has played 20 innings at an average of 32.89 aggregating 592 runs. Sachin has played 39 innings at an average of 53.11 aggregating 1859 runs! Playing more innings and yet maintaining above 50 average against the best bowling line-up says it all.

Not just with Australia, if you compare the records with other good attacks, like Pakistan or England one will find similar difference in performance. All these statistics are available at http://www.howstat.com/cricket/home.asp

All these numbers set aside, is not a pleasure to see Sachin punch one down the ground in the batsman's "V", than to see Jaysuriya lob it over covers with his legs placed awkardly?