Sachin Tendulkar is not one of the greatest but is the greatest player cricket has ever seen. The cricketer from Mumbai has a plethora of runs behind him in every format which makes him an all-time genius. Hailed as little master, he is the trendsetter and inspiration for many cricketers that followed. Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rohit Sharma are few names that drew inspiration from him in their cricketing career. But what makes him all-time greatest?
If we study Sachin Tendulkar batting, the first thing we notice is his balance. The balance with which he battled throughout his career, gave him the freedom to play on backfoot and front foot at will according to the length of the delivery. Then we have cover drives, square-cut but Sachin was equally good on the leg side too. His leg glance and flick were played with pure timing in his career. If we talk about his dismissals, lbw and clean bowled were the frequent mode of dismissals for him. Sometimes he had a tough time playing against bowl coming into him, making him susceptible to lbw too. Also how many times you must have read the news of some spinner coming to India for the first and got Sachin Tendulkar wicket in his very first match.
Virat Kohli is the other Indian batsman who has been very consistent with the bat. The one thing which Virat Kohli has a little edge over Sachin Tendulkar is his control on playing check drives. The cover drive looks pleasant to eyes but is involved with the greatest risk, where the wicketkeeper and slip fielders all coming into the play. What Virat Kohli does differently is to play check drives, and not play full-fledged cover drive, thus is involved with lesser risk.
Rohit Sharma is the one Indian batsman who plays the short ball well. He doesn’t hold himself back on short deliveries and bouncer and see them as the opportunity to score runs, unlike Suresh Raina. His pull shot ranges from square leg too long on, with relatively slower balls deposited more towards the cow corner as he gets some extra time to play the shots and faster deliveries pulled more on the square leg and fine leg regions. At times he had some tough time against leg spinners in IPL and ODIs but what he has is strong temperament and as said in the recent press conference, he follows a certain template which has given him some success, trying to be as modest as possible.
The other great batsman India has ever produced is Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Though he might lack lusty blows like Rohit Sharma or eloquent cover drives like of Virat Kohli what he has is the temperament and wicket saving technique.No batsman in the world has better wicket saving technique then Mahendra Singh Dhoni. If he makes up his mind he has to just stay there for the next 15 overs, there are only a few occasions when he got out. And then we have power hitting at the end of the innings which makes him even more dangerous. In pressure situations, in crunch situations, in world cup matches he is the one who can soak the pressure and keep fighting for his team and country. Though his strike rate has dropped in recent times his wicket saving ability is right up there and no cricketer in the world matches him in this area.
Then we had Virendra Sehwag who was an average ODI player but he revolutionized the test cricket. With an average of above 45 and an impressive strike rate, Sehwag was one of the great test batsmen. India has produced great batsmen in the past and present and hopefully, we will see more of them in the future. Stay tuned.
