Myth about Sachin's centuries and India's losses

My Writings. My Thoughts.

Myth about Sachin's centuries and India's losses

On » Friday, June 3, 2011 // In » century, cricket, India, loss, sachin, sachinisgod, south africa, tendulkar

Why India loses when Sachin scores a century? Once again the 'myth' has come true. Sachin Tendulkar scored a classic 111 in the first innings last saturday, taking India to 267/1 in 39.3 overs and yet India lost the match to South Africa who showed a marvelous bowling display by bundling up the so much famed batting order of India in just 29 runs later. More than the loss, it was disgusting to see how the tasteless Sachin critics tried to blame his century as a bad omen to India's pathetic loss against the resurgent Proteas. I find it so ridiculous to hear these people giving frivolous reasons for putting down Sachin's record over his highly illustrious career over the last two decades.

(Picture Courtesy: esakal.com)

Why do people even come with such baseless conceptions that Sachin is not a match-winner! Can't this simple stat shut these critic's mouths that out of 48 centuries that the master blaster has scored, only 13 have ended in a losing cause! Moreover in the history of One day cricket the maestro tops the list of those batsmen who have most number of their centuries resulting in their team lifting the winning trophy. I seriously believe these Sachin bashers are always in a state of denial. Despite these stats completely proving them wrong, they will have many other stupid reasons up their sleeve to down play Sachin's dedication towards the game. The above stats can be clarified here.

So for all those Sachin critics who hate him for so many (nonsense) reasons, which I dont want to know, here I have analysed the 13 matches in which India lost despite Sachin scoring a century, an insignificant statistics on which you guys have such a delusional theory built up against the most prolific sports-person this game has ever seen.

1. In the first ever losing cause, 7 years after the maestro's debut, in 1996, India lost to Sri Lanka in the World Cup. Sachin scored 137 off 137 balls with India reaching 271/3 on a slow Ferozshah Kotla pitch. Yet the bowlers couldnt defend the total. Manoj Prabhakar (I dont know why I hate him so much), initially scored only 7 runs off 36 balls while opening the innings also gave a massive 47 runs in just 4 overs. (source)

2. Next in 2 months, in Singapore India played Pakistan. Sachin got out on 100 from 111 balls with the scoreboard reading 186/4. But as it was a trend then, the whole team got out for a meagre 226. The rain affected game gave a revised target of just 187 to win from 198 balls. V. Raju went for 51 in 5 overs in a match which was completely dominated by Pakistan's then in form openers Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar. (source)

3. Next up was a match against the Sri Lankans at Colombo. He scored 110 from 137 balls. Agreed that this innings was on a slower side but Azhar, the only other half-centurion in the match took 99 balls for his 58. No wonder India could manage only 226 in 50 overs. Sri Lanka easily chased it in 44 overs, losing only 1 wicket, which was taken by Sachin himself with a third most economical bowling stats in the Indian side. (source)

4. Sharjah 1998... no one can forget this series when Sachin was at the peak of his career. Australia raced to 284 in a match which saw a dramatic sandstorm. The revised target of 276 to win in 46 overs seemed impossible when India were reduced to 138 for 4 in 29 overs. Yet Sachin made a fighting 143 off just 131 balls. Sachin fell on 242/5 after making sure that India surpassed the required 237 runs in 46 overs so as to beat New Zealand on NRR to qualify for the finals. The other six batsmen could contribute only 107 more runs taking India to 250. (source)

5. In the first match of the Coco-Cola Champions trophy against Sri Lanka, India managed only 224 in 50 overs, of which 101 came from Sachin's bat alone. In a not-so-good bowling chart of India, Sachin finished with bowling figures of 5-0-22-0 with only Zaheer having a better ER. No wonder Sri Lanka won the match comfortably in 44 overs. (source)

6. Jodhpur saw one of the most humiliating defeats in Indian cricket history when they lost to Zimbabwe after putting 284 on board. When wickets were tumbling at the other end, Sachin guided the innings till the 47th over while scoring 146 with almost a run-a-ball. Zaheer was the second highest scorer with 32. Indian bowlers showed one of the most indisciplined display of all times giving away 30 extras in that match which had 15 wides!!! In a nail biting finish Zimbabwe won with 1 wicket and 1 ball remaining. (source)

7. On the bouncy pitches of Johannesburg, India had moved to a flying start with Saurav Ganguly and Sachin scoring an opening stand of 193 runs! After Ganguly fell, the others followed suit, but Sachin calmly finished his century and was the last man to get out with a score of 101 balls off 129 with India managing only 279. The bowlers couldnt restict the Proteas and Sachin yet again showed a decent display with bowling (9-0-51-0) with ER better than the regular bowlers in the team. (source)

8. In the second match of the famous Indo-Pak series in Pakistan, the hosts had ripped open the Indian bowling by posting a strong 329/6 on board. Sachin scored a quick 141 off 135 balls with 17 fours and a six just to end on the losing side in a closely fought match with India reaching 317 before being bowled out. When Sachin got out at 245/4 in 38.4 overs, India needed only 85 from 68 balls with 6 wickets in hand! (source)

9. India made a commendable 315/6 in 48 overs with Sachin scoring 123 from 130 balls. But with a poor display from bowlers (5 out of 7 with ER more than 6 and Nehra going for 75 runs in 9 overs), Pakistan won the thriller on the last ball scoring 319 in return. (source)

10. In yet another match with the arch-rivals India made 328 in the series opener in Peshawar thanks to Sachin's century off 113 balls and the other half centuries from Pathan and Dhoni. But Indian bowlers were a no-show on the Pakistan soil as their batsmen chased down the revised target of 305 on the last ball of 47th over. Only Pathan had ER less than 6 amongst the total 6 bowlers used by Dhoni. (source)

11. In 2006, India played the West Indies at Kuala Lumpur. Sachin batted throughout the 50 overs scoring 141 off just 148 balls giving Windies a target of 309 in 50 overs. But in yet another rain affected match, the west Indians won the match on D/L method after scoring 142 in 20 overs for 2 wickets. It would be utterly childish to blame Sachin for such losses. (source)

12. Open up your eyes fellas for this one! In 2009, at Hyderabad the Aussies made a massive 350 in 50 overs making the Indian bowlers look pathetic. In such a match India was down at 162/4 with the big three Gambhir (8), Yuvraj (9) and Dhoni (6) already back in the pavilion! Yet chasing down in the lights, Sachin gave an unbelievable fight running down the pitch with 4 sixes and 19 fours making 175 from just 141 balls!!! Tendulkar got out on 332/7 taking India comfortably close to the victory margin, requiring only 19 runs from 14 balls with 3 wickets in hand. But the infamous kid Ravindra Jadeja, Nehra, P. Kumar succumbed to pressure and India lost by just 3 runs in a match which many believed was far from reach. (source)

13. And now the mother of all matches that India lost despite Sachin's century. India, the most hyped team in this world cup, finally got to an explosive start against the Proteas with Sachin and Sehwag scoring almost at 8.5 runs per over taking India to 141 in just 17 overs! Sachin and Gambhir took the score to another level when the Indian score board read 267/1 in 39.3 overs. Almost everyone believed that at least 350 was on cards with 9 wickets in hand. Sachin got out on 111 from just 101 balls. But who would believe that later these famed batting line-up will collapse even faster than playing cards in just 29 runs with India managing only 296 with 8 balls to spare!!! With morale down, India was never in the match with rubbish bowling display and absolutely sluggish fielding with dropped catches and missed run-outs! India lost the match in the last over which needed 13 runs. (source)

So this is how it goes. Do not be so blinded with some unknown meaningless hatred against this man and resorting to stupid line of thinking that Sachin's tons are a bad omen to India! Barring these above 13, India never lost a match in the remaining 35 matches when the master blaster went past 100.

Even when Sachin fails to score a hundred, India has won 56 times out of a total 93 when he has atleast scored a fifty. Sachin has most number of 'man of the match' and 'man of the series' than any other cricketer in the world.

Hopefully these statistics will open your ignorantly shut eyes and bring you back to reality and accept this gentleman as he is and respect his never die attitude towards the game of cricket.

May 'GOD' Bless you all...

(This is a re-post. It was written earlier during the ICC World Cup 2011, a day after the India v/s South Africa match)

avea grijă

Total Hits

My Writings. My Thoughts.