Ranking Sachin Tendulkar’s 5 best test innings

Sachin Tendulkar has been one of the biggest icons in the 60 years of India’s independence. A whole generation of Indians has grown up watching him bat and almost singlehandedly carry the burden of our batting in the 90s. He was a pure genius who waved his bat like a magic wand and delivered time and again for India. As he goes into the sunset, let us revisit some of his best performances in test matches in the last 2 decades.

The criteria for ranking his 5 best test innings have been the following:

•          Quality of the bowling attack
•          The nature of the pitch
•          Situation of the match and the series
•          The entertainment value of the innings
•          Impact of the innings on the outcome of the match

No. 5: 169 vs South Africa at Capetown, 1997

This innings scores very high for me on 3 of the above mentioned factors, i.e. entertainment value, quality of the attack and the situation of the match. India had been bowled out in the 1^st test of the series for a paltry 100 and 66 in both the innings and lost miserably. The South African bowlers were all in their prime with Donald, Pollock and MC Millan all breathing fire.In the 2^nd test at Capetown, South Africa scored a mammoth 529 in the first innings and India were immediately under the gun in their 1^stinnings. Sachin arrived with the score at 25/3 and India were soon 58/5 with Sachin and Azhar at the crease. It was then that these two launched a brilliant counter attack and smashed the world class South African quickies to all corners of the ground.220 runs were scored by them in 40 overs. It was amongst the most amazing counter attacks ever launched by Indian batsmen on foreign soil. Tendulkar scored 169 at a strike rate of 66 and hit 26 boundaries in the innings. He was the last man out.

No.4: 114 vs Australia at Perth, 1992

This innings of Sachin scores high on 3 of the above mentioned factors, i.e. quality of the bowling attack, nature of the pitch and entertainment value of the innings. On a fast bouncy WACA pitch, all the other Indian batsmen struggled against a good pace attack in Australian conditions, comprising McDermott, Merv Hughes and Paul Reifell. Sachin displayed his great talent for facing fast bowling in help conditions for the 1^st time in test cricket. Not only he scored 114 runs, but he looked completely at ease during his stay and scored the runs at a fast clip too. His innings included 16 boundaries and was pure entertainment for a cricket fan. Even today many people rate that innings as his finest innings on a bouncy track.

No. 3: 155 vs Australia at Chennai, 1998

Shane Warne once famously remarked that he had nightmares of Sachin Tendulkar hitting him for sixes. This innings was may be the biggest reason why. It was the first test match of the 1998 series. Australia had taken a 1^st innings lead, and India were under some pressure when Sachin came out to bat in the 2^nd innings. He then launched a massive counter attack, and especially tore into Shane Warne on a turning track. He repeatedly used his feet to attack his leg spinner and smacked it straight down the ground for 6s and 4s. The world had never seen Warne being attacked in such a manner. Sachin hit 4 6s and 14 boundaries in his whirlwind knock of 155 not out in a mere 191 balls, and his innings was like a knockout punch that completely put Australia out. Australia never recovered from this knockout punch, and lost the series 1-2.

No. 2: 116 vs Australia at Melbourne, 2000

Against an all team great bowling attack comprising McGrath, Warne, Lee and Fleming, Sachin scored 116 on a very lively Melbourne pitch. All the other Indian batsmen struggled against the accuracy of McGrath and the pace of a young Bret Lee bowling at 150+ kmph. What makes this innings rank this high is the combination of the lively pitch conditions, with enough bounce and movement for all the fast bowlers, and the great Aussie attack, which was near to unplayable for all the other Indian batsmen. Apart from Sachin, who also scored a fifty in the 2^nd innings, no other Indian batsman crossed 45 in either innings.

No. 1: 136 vs Pakistan at Chennai, 1999

This was undoubtedly Sachin’s greatest test innings. Against another all time great bowling attack comprising Akram, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mustaq, Sachin almost single handedly took India to the brink of victory. The pitch was a tough one to bat on in the 4^th innings, with prodigious reverse swing and spin both happening. Chasing a target of 271 runs to win, India were reduced to 82 for 5 at a stage. It was almost like the match would end soon. Sachin then launched a terrific counter attack in very tough conditions. It looked like he would single handedly take India to victory. Disaster struck a mere 17 runs before victory. Sachin misread a Saqlain Mustaq doosra and got out, with 3 wickets remaining. The tail failed to resist against the hot Pakistan attack and India lost by 12 runs. Had India won this test match, this innings would have ranked in the Wisden Top 10 test innings of all time.

Playing It My Way- Sachin's Autobiography

The way forward for Indian Test cricket in the coming future

The Indian side has had great success in ODI and T 20 formats in the last few years and has been amongst the best sides in those formats. However our performances in Test cricket have dipped considerably in this time. We have lost all our overseas tours since 2011, and the one sided manner of most of those defeats has left a bitter taste in the mouth.

Causes of our Failure

So, what has hurt our cause in the longest format? For one, our fast bowling, which has for long been our Achilles Heel has continued to be problematic. The bowlers we have invested faith in, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami have failed to perform with consistency and venom for any long periods of time. We saw that in tour of England this year, when Bhuvneshwar Kumar started the series well against England, only to taper off badly towards the end.

Apart from this, Dhoni’s captaincy has been very passive on multiple fronts in the Test arena. Firstly, his team selections have centred on safety first approach. A prime example of that was preferring the economical but sedate Pankaj Singh over the fast but mercurial Varun Aaron early on in the series.

Tactically he was horrible in the series. A prime example was the second session of the third Test match of the series, when India led 1-0. In only the second session of the match, he made Jadeja bowl a negative line outside the leg stump to stop run scoring by English batsmen, rather than attacking them and going for wickets. It helped England get back the momentum in the series.

Need for an aggressive Captain

What India need now is an aggressive captain who can play for wins rather than taking a meek approach. Virat Kohli fits the bill perfectly and his aggressive approach to his batting will reflect in his captaincy also. He has enough experience playing at the top levels and now is the perfect time to hand over the Test captaincy reigns to him.

Need for Pace in Tests

Apart from that, India needs to play the fast guys in Test as pace is essential for success in Test matches. Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron need to be given a fair run in the Tests. If they can get their lengths right, then with their pace, they can cause a lot of trouble for batsmen, especially on pace friendly pitches overseas. If you can play Ishant Sharma for 50 Test matches, you can give these guys 20 matches, eh!

We hope the Indian Test cricket moves in the right direction in the future. Historically we have been poor in Tests overall, and rank at seventh position amongst top eight Test teams, when it comes to win-loss ratio in Test matches. It is time we breed aggressive fast guys in Tests and back the squad with a leader who can back them and play for winning matches, rather than saving them. Only then can we reverse our negative trend in Tests in this decade and become a great Test side.