Numbers Do Lie: ‘Dravid better than Sachin’
MUMBAI: While launching his latest book on Tuesday, former cricketer Aakash Chopra says Rahul Dravid had a greater impact in Indian performances than cricket’s ‘God’ Sachin Tendulkar. Aakash Chopra, who has established himself as a commentator and analyst in the last few years, was speaking at the launch of his third book -- co-written with Jaideep Varma, founder of cricket data analysis company Impact Index. Former pacer Zaheer Khan and commentator Harsha Bhogle were also present at the book launch.
The book titled “Numbers Do Lie” delves into the stories of several players whose performances often did not receive the adulation they deserved.
By comparing scorecards of individual matches, looking at the performance of each player in context to the match and the tournament, comparing those results with other players of their era and other such variables, former India opener Chopra and Varma were able to identify subdued stories from the international cricketing world.
One of the 61 stories in the book concerns the impact Rahul Dravid had on matches despite Sachin Tendulkar ultimately winning them.
“In terms of Test cricket, Rahul Dravid is rated ahead of Tendulkar. In the 1990s, when Sachin was just the lone ranger, nobody was supporting him. If I have to put it this way, Sachin never had Rahul to support him to win matches, but Rahul always had Sachin to support him to win matches,” said Chopra.
Chopra went on to say that Rahul Dravid helped stabilise the pressure in multiple matches just after India had lost its first wicket. According to Chopra, this contribution from Dravid, which isn’t considered in traditional data crunching, was the reason Tendulkar could bat carefree and win India the game.
“Rahul absorbed more pressure because batting at No 3 and No 4 are two different things. So Rahul was invariably batting at 10 for one and had Viru (Virender Sehwag) for company. By the time Sachin came in it’s just that the pressure was not the same all the time. Also, Rahul’s overseas performances have been the clincher,” Chopra added.