One thing which you might have come across before ( a gazillion times ) is this quote ‘ whenever sachin scores a 100 , india loses’ or ‘ sachin plays for himself, not for his his country’ or even ‘ sachin tendulkar has redefined selfishness’ . There is a senior news anchor who once opined ‘ Sachin Tendulkar is a traitor’ . Its obvious that anyone can get misled by such hard hitting statements , and start believing in them .
I believe slowing down or batting defensively doesn’t have much impact on the result of a test match because that’s what batsmen are supposed to do in tests- be cautious and take time to build an innings . The impact of slowing down can be larger in Limited over internationals . Sachin hasn’t played many international T20s , so I am going to consider his performance in ODIs only.
Cricinfo started the text commentary from 2001. So I am doing the 100s he has scored since 2001 because text commentary is necessary to calculate his stats in various parts of an innings .
OUT OF THE 21 HUNDREDS , the strike rate from 85-100 is more than that during the next 15 runs in 10 occasions . I am going to analyse those 10 innings one by one.
kenya
He opened the batting with Ganguly 111 (124). SR 89 .It should also be considered - Tendulkar consumed 80 deliveries to score 81 . And then 19 deliveries to score the next 20 runs. There is hardly any chage in his strike rate .
Namibia
Tendulkar scored 70 runs off 84 deliveries . strike rate 83 . He scored the next 30 runs from 31 deliveries . Strike rate 98 . Which shows he accelerated after reaching 70 and DIDN’T slow down. His strike rate in the match was 100.66 , slightly better than that of Ganguly (112 from 119, Strike rate 94) and Sehwag ( 24 from 24 , strike rate 100)
Australia
Sachin managed to score 100 from 117 deliveries . Strike rate 85 . He was on 64 after facing 75 deliveries . Strike rate 85 . VVS Laxman scored 102 from 134 deliveries . SR- 76
Pakistan
141 from 135 . he made a substancial contribution in the chase . Pakistan had posted a mammoth total of 329 . sadly , apart from sachin no one else could play a knock of any substance . Wickets fell like ninepins and inspite of the valiant knock of Sachin the indian team couldn’t chase down the total . Sehwag scored 26 , Laxman 4 , Dravid 36, Ganguly 15 ,Yuvraj 19 .
Australia
After facing 79 deliveries Tendulkar had scored 73 .Strike rate 92 . He scored the next 27 runs from 27 deliveries . He DIDN’T slow down . His knock was a match-winning one.
Sri Lanka 138 from 133
After scoring 78 from 74 balls , Strike Rate 105 . He scored 22 from 18 . Strike rate 122 . The difference in strike rates says only one thing – he didn’t slow down .
SA 200
The first real indication that Tendulkar perhaps did take his time in the 90s as there is a marked drop in the strike rate
England
His first 100 of the 2011 World Cup, it was as a result of a direct onslaught against the likes of Graeme Swann that helped him get some momentum after a very slow start ( he was on 32 after facing 50 balls). He was 87 (88) and then 102 from 103 . No apparent slowing down .
Bangladesh 114
83 from 114 balls. Strike Rate – 72.80 , 17 from 24 balls. Strike Rate – 70.83 . Change in Strike rate – 1.97 . , which had a little consequence on the net run rate .
. At the end of this analysis, I think there has been just one occassion when he slowed down – 200 vs SA . But he made up for it by scoring 100 from 57 deliveries . ..To hold this against him seems a little unfair
Its pretty clear that the myth ‘he slows down’ , or ‘ he is selfish’ is really baseless . Calling him selfish on this innings is totally uncalled for. He recognised the need to get it out of the way and did use up balls. Had he been selfish , he would have retired from cricket , spent the whole year shooting for ads and earned millions . Had he been selfish he would have played the ODIs against Indies and England to get the 100th 100 out of the way , since its relativrly easier for most Indian batsmen to score in the country than abroad .
