Stop comparing, just enjoy the success of Virat’s team
HEATED DEBATE The current side has the skill and capability to win more consistently overseas than in the past
Cricket is played in the middle and discussed animatedly across offices, parks, teashops and homes. At most times, the conversation is about comparing players from different eras: Do Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar stand shoulder to shoulder, or is one taller than the other? Where does Virat Kohli sit among India’s all time greats? Who among our treasured spinners is the most precious?
Cricket frowns upon such comparisons. Purists sneer at these because cricketers are unique products of circumstances and standalone situations. So it’s incorrect to square off players who played years apart.
This argument holds because cricket is dynamic, impacted by changing laws, conditions, pitch, field restrictions, equipment, player fitness and mindset.
A counter narrative (articulated among others by Ian Chappell) says a champion is a champion and greats like Gavaskar and Kapil Dev would succeed in any format, anywhere, in any era.
Regardless of one’s position, comparisons become inevitable considering cricket’s precise measurement of individual contributions and scorebooks that tell stories. Stats can lie or conceal some truth but what else is cricket but runs scored and wickets taken? So, player versus player is orange versus orange.
THE BEST XI?
This comparison industry attempts to provide context to India’s historic success in Australia. The nation, a large part of it, wants to know if Kohli’s XI is India’s best ever? Do Kohli and Pujara match the standards set by Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag and Ganguly? Are the spinners (Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep) as good as the famous four (Bishan, Prasanna, Chandra, and Venkat)?
When coach Shastri declared his team the ‘best’ in terms of ‘travelling’ many reacted, alleging disrespect to previous sides. But Shastri was, as IS Johar once said, only ‘half wrong half right’.
Wrong because India competed abroad with credit in the past and won. Right because the current side has the skill to win more consistently overseas than before.
Never in its Test history since 1932 has India boasted of quality pacers as now — Bumrah, Shami, Umesh, Bhuvi, Ishant are a serious threat to batsmen everywhere and Ashwin and Jadeja already have 500 Test wickets between them. This is India’s best all-round attack.
THE BATTING NUMBERS OF KOHLI AND PUJARA ARE AS IMPRESSIVE AS THOSE OF THEIR ILLUSTRIOUS SENIORS
NUMBERS OR ROMANCE?
The batting numbers of Kohli and Pujara are as impressive as those of their illustrious seniors.
Kohli with 19,000 international runs trails Tendulkar (34,357) and Dravid (24,064). Sachin scored 100 international tons, Kohli has 63, far ahead of Dravid who is next best at 48.
SRT and Virat are locked in a photo finish on Test averages (53.78 vs 53.76 ) but the India captain (despite 25 hundreds from 77 Tests) must log many miles before reaching the monster SRT milestone of 200 Tests.
Pujara (68 Tests at 51.18, 18 tons) and Dravid (163 Tests, excluding one for World XI, at 52.63, 36 hundreds) have comparable numbers but these are still early trends and Pujara needs to last the distance and maintain form and fitness.
Though hard numbers convey a message they miss out on the elegance factor of players and the romance of cricket.
Stats don’t capture the technical purity of Gavaskar, the artistry of Laxman or Bishan Bedi, Ganguly’s elegance, Kapil Dev’s enthusiasm and energy, Sehwag’s swagger or Dravid’s grit to make runs under tough conditions.
Tiger Pataudi and Prasanna have modest records but are legends who took Indian cricket forward.
Instead of comparing players and triggering ranking battles, best to celebrate the skills of champion players and enjoy the magic they created.