Cricket is a team game. Yet, when a batting star takes centre-stage in the second innings of a Test match, either to bail his side out of trouble or to get them to chase an unlikely fourth innings target, the game suddenly becomes about the individual. Drawing room discussions steer towards the individual’s second innings’ heroics, his second innings’ averages, forgetting, conveniently, that it takes contributions from ten other individuals to win a cricket match.
Sachin Tendulkar, particularly, has been the centre of such intense attention. Ever since the famous Chennai Test of January 1999 against Pakistan, where the master’s, quite literally, back breaking knock of 136 saw India get to within 12 runs of the fourth innings target and still lose, Tendulkar has found his performances in the second innings of a crucial Test come under immense scrutiny. Against Pakistan at Bengaluru in 2005 and then at Karachi in 2006, his scores of 16 and 26 formed part of a dismal second innings scorecard that saw India lose both Tests. Then in Mumbai, against England in 2006, his 34 runs, the highest score in India’s paltry fourth innings total of 100 runs, weren’t good enough to give England the slip on the final day of the Test. Not very much later, 14 runs against South Africa in the Cape Town Test of January 2007, which saw India surrender the series to the hosts, came under similar criticism.
Barring Yuvraj Singh’s gallant innings of 122 in the Karachi Test of 2006, no other Indian batsman had notched anything of substance in the second innings of any of the aforementioned four Tests. Gautam Gambhir’s 52-run knock at Bengaluru was the next highest score. Yet, it was Tendulkar alone who experienced the maximum censure for India’s disappointing run in all these Tests. It is the price Tendulkar pays for being, well, Tendulkar.
Yet, rising above the petty insinuations about his temperament at crunch time, Tendulkar has turned things around of late. Beginning with the Delhi Test against Pakistan in November 2007, where Sachin’s unbeaten 56 runs helped India chase down a tricky second innings target of 203, Tendulkar’s second innings’ scores have helped India’s cause on many occasions in the recent past.
Scores of 49 and 100* against Australia and Sri Lanka in Bengaluru (2008) and Ahmedabad (2009) have helped India eke out draws in exacting circumstances on the final days of the respective Tests. There was also a scintillating knock of 103* which helped India chase down a record total of 387 runs on the final day of the Chennai Test against England in December 2008. Equally significant, if not as prodigious, have been his scores of 54, 38 and 53* in the Colombo, Mohali and Bengaluru Tests of 2010 that have seen India win all three games.
A closer look at Tendulkar’s averages also reveals his golden run in the second innings ever since the 2007 Delhi Test.
|
|
Innings |
Not Out |
Runs |
Average |
100s |
|
Overall career record |
286 |
31 |
14513 |
56.91 |
50 |
|
Overall career 2nd Innings record |
114 |
22 |
4115 |
44.73 |
13 |
|
2nd innings record between 1989 and before the Delhi Test of 2007 |
89 |
16 |
3082 |
42.22 |
9 |
|
2nd innings record since the Delhi Test |
25 |
6 |
1033 |
54.37 |
4 |
Another way to look at his improved performance in this area is the frequency with which he has scored his 100s in the second innings in recent times.
|
|
Innings |
100s |
Frequency of 100s per second innings (Approx.) |
|
Overall record |
286 |
50 |
1 every 5.5 innings |
|
Overall 2nd Innings record |
114 |
13 |
1 every 9 innings |
|
Between 1989 and before the Delhi Test of 2007 |
89 |
9 |
1 every 10 innings |
|
Since the Delhi Test |
25 |
4 |
1 every 6 innings |
Also, even without taking into account his record of the past few years, Tendulkar’s career second innings’ average rates among the very best of other contemporary greats.
|
|
Innings |
Not Out |
Runs |
Average |
100s |
Frequency of 100s per second innings (Approx.) |
|
VVS Laxman 2nd innings career record |
76 |
17 |
2976 |
50.44 |
5 |
1 every 15 innings |
|
Inzamam-ul-Huq 2nd innings career record |
82 |
14 |
3194 |
46.97 |
6 |
1 every 14 innings |
|
Sachin Tendulkar2nd innings career record |
114 |
22 |
4115 |
44.73 |
13 |
1 every 9 innings (best) |
|
Ricky Ponting 2nd innings career record |
106 |
23 |
3620 |
43.61 |
6 |
1 every 18 innings |
|
Rahul Dravid 2nd innings career record |
107 |
21 |
3701 |
43.03 |
5 |
1 every 21 innings |
|
Brian Lara 2nd innings career record |
102 |
5 |
3704 |
38.18 |
9 |
1 every 11 innings |
|
Steve Waugh 2nd innings career record |
94 |
21 |
2369 |
32.45 |
2 |
1 every 47 innings (worst) |
These stats clearly debunk the myth that the Tendulkar of the second innings is a shadow of the batsman in the first innings. However, his most recent score of 111* in the Centurion Test, or his scores of 100 and 84 in the Nagpur and Galle Test of 2010, didn’t help India escape the hurt of a loss. Another reminder that cricket will always remain a team game no matter how heroic the feats of a gifted player.
Akshay Manwani is part of the editorial team at BCCI.TV
