Monday, October 1, 2001
Startling fact No. 1: Sachin Tendulkar, the god of one-day cricket, the destroyer of all he surveys, the first man to pass 10,000 runs in the short game, scorer of 29 hundreds and 53 fifties, is only 71% as good outside Asia and Zimbabwe.

Startling fact No. 2: The man who has been rattling off one-day hundreds as a matter of course is only 13% as prolific outside Asia.

Startling fact No. 3: Against South Africa in South Africa, Tendulkar averages only 19.67. No hundreds, no fifties.

Blasphemy? Another witch-hunt by the infidels? In another age and another civilisation, this would have called for a burning at the stake, but since we live in a democratic world, let's call it simple perspective.

Now let's look at those figures again. In all one-day internationals, Tendulkar averages 43.40 – 48.06 at home and 39.25 away. In all of Asia, he averages a majestic 46.82 with 25 centuries; in the rest of the world, he joins the mortals at 36.16. Further dissect this and a pattern emerges. His combined average in Australia, South Africa, West Indies and England is an ordinary 31.81. Add in New Zealand and Canada, and the average creeps up to 33.06, still a full ten points below his career figure.

Tendulkar went without a hundred in his first 77 one-day matches, in which he averaged 32.07. But he averages 47.35 since he scored his first century, against Australia in Sri Lanka in September 1994, a truly outstanding record spanning 195 matches. Only Michael Bevan (57.27) among current players and Zaheer Abbas (47.62) in the alltime list have better averages. Bevan's, however, is boosted by his phenomenal number of not-outs – 51 in 145 innings, compared with Tendulkar's 15 in 191 since reaching three figures for the first time. Since scoring that first century, Tendulkar has been stroking a hundred every 6.5 innings, a record unmatched in the history of one-day cricket.

However, 25 of his 29 centuries have been scored in Asia, which places his century rate in Asia at one every 5.2 innings, compared with 15.25 outside. Furthermore, three of his four hundreds outside Asia have come against not-so-threatening Zimbabwe. And the other one? Against Kenya in a World Cup preliminary game in England.

So what does this prove? Tendulkar's a flat-track bully ... the Graeme Hick of one-day cricket? I would resist early assumptions. There is little doubt about Tendulkar's virtuosity or versatility. Tendulkar passes the ultimate test of cricket greatness with distinction: his Test record is already enough to assure him immortality, and it's only getting better.

And there's little in Sachin's Test statistics to separate his record in the subcontinent to outside. A 51-plus average and nine outstanding hundreds should satisfy anyone.

Perhaps what his one-day records points to is a need to rethink his approach. On pitches that don't serve up fast bowlers as apple pie, Tendulkar will have to show the patience to go through the main course before he can lap up the dessert. If there is bounce and movement in the surface, he needs to curb his natural impetuosity and rein in that instinctive urge to dominate fast bowlers from the very beginning.

In the last two one-day series, we have seen glimpses of a determined, focussed, unhurried and hungrier Tendulkar, tolerant of the temporary dominance of opposition bowlers, unafraid of granting the bowler his due and unconcerned about the runs-per-ball equation.

Beware South Africa ... Sachin Tendulkar has a point to prove. It's time for him to put the record straight.

Sambit Bal is editor of Wisden Online India.

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