Ricky Ponting rates Lara above Tendulkar

[Aditya]

Lara won more matches for West Indies than Sachin did for India, NO. Lara played more matches than Sachin Tendulkar, NO. So, what conclusion we reach? Nowhere really.

Let's take it step by step. They're both legends, they're both respected and their contribution to their respective countries is par excellence. When it comes to my views personally, I've always been a huge fan of Sachin and continue to be whereas the next player that follows - has to be Lara arguably. I say arguably because Lara's "winning" contribution to the West Indies side is questionable, having said that, can you really expect one player to lead his side to glory? NEVER. I can't. Sachin is great yes but he had players, in fact legends like Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly playing alongside him. So even if Sachin didn't perform in a few innings, the other 3 made up for it in tests at least and as far as ODI's are concerned, India never dominated this format, it wasn't until Ganguly led the side that we saw India concurring ODI cricket.

I see Lara like this - 501*, 401*, highest runs in a over in test cricket and various such records, including 2 triple hundreds in test cricket. This guy ought to be rated very high, in fact I wouldn't question someone who rates him higher than Tendulkar like Ponting does. Having said that, labeling Lara a great because he so called "won more matches for West Indies" than Sachin did for India is highly questionable and a highly flawed argument.

In conclusion, Brian Lara is a legend so is Sachin Tendulkar and we all know and agree on this. Whose better among these two is for one particular person to decide, however just for the sake of the argument, the reason provided by Ponting to rate Lara higher than Tendulkar is flawed because in the end, it's the win percentage that counts and whereas, India won more matches with Tendulkar in the side, Lara's West Indies won only a few. Another way to see this argument is - West Indies went from bad to worse in the years Lara played and yet he continued to demolish the world class bowlers and at least took West Indies to some glory or the other in the years he played and therefore, he too is no less than any other cricketer that played with him/against him, not particularly just Tendulkar.

 

[Satan666]

A bit of topic here but Ponting should be rated higher than Tendulkar, as someone posted on the thread, 'ponting is the complete batsman' and this is true.

For me Ponting is the complete cricketer.

I think the real argument is wether Ponting is better than Lara or Lara is greater tha n Ponting! Sachin doesnt come close to reckoning, as StinkyBoHoon posted in another thread:

I tendulkar just mindlessly accumulating by merit of playing for three thousand years?

This I think is why many of the followers of cricket find it difficult to see someone as being better than Tendulkar, all Tendulkar has is longevity in the game, his consistency in scoring has deserted him a long time ago and even the 200 he made in ODI cricket someone else has done that also, Verinder Sehwag, who by the way scored 219, and holds the record for the highest individual score in ODI cricket, NOT Tendulkar!

 

[sifter132]

^lets not go too far buddy...we know you're a big Tendulkar fan, but at very least deserves to be in the discussion!

I think my problem with comparing the 3 of them rigorously with stats, who won the most games etc. is that Tendulkar and now Ponting played on a bit longer than they should and in my opinion are ruining the aura that each of them had at their best. I've been at the ground when both Tendulkar and Lara came out to bat - about 10-15 years ago now - and the buzz was incredible, everyone in the crowd knew they were special players, close to the top of their games, and everyone knew that their wickets would be huge in the match. We lose that a bit when we boil careers down to X amount of runs, at Y average. I love my stats, but every now and then I have to remind myself that the magic of cricket is greater than the stats. And I hope that's what people remember about the great batsmen.

 

[Owzat]

Yup, very hard not to be subjective and stats will make it difficult as they're very very similar. Ponting didn't have to face Warne or McGrath, that for me should edge him out of the contest, but again any such move could be deemed subjective.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I think the real argument is wether Ponting is better than Lara or Lara is greater tha n Ponting! Sachin doesnt come close to reckoning, as StinkyBoHoon posted in another thread:

to be fair, I was then comparing him to a bowler and then went on to rate tendulkar above both lara and ponting.

 

[ferg512]

While some will reject stats on the basis they don't like what they show/ suggest, they need to be reflected.

Brian Lara (131 Tests)
11953 runs @ 53.89. (HS 400no, SR 60.52)
100 x34, 50 x48 (ducks x17)

Sachin Tendulkar (198 Tests)
15837 runs @ 53.87. (HS 248no, SR not available)
100 x51, 50 x67 (ducks x14)

Wow never realised Tendulkars average had slipped so much wasn't it around 56-57 a year ago?

Its really close, probably too hard for me to pick based on how they performed but I'd pick Lara to watch any day over Tendulkar.

 

[Ohm]

Wow never realised Tendulkars average had slipped so much wasn't it around 56-57 a year ago?

It was in January 2011.2 years and 6 moths ago.Before world cup.

 

[phil1987]

Ponting was great but not to the Lara and Tendulkar level but extremely close though. Stylistic wise i dont think there have been many better to ever play than Lara when he had his eye in especially against spin bowling.

Ponting batted at number 3 behind arguably the greatest opening partnership to ever play the game and on top of that Australia would come in to bat after Warnie, Mcgrath and Gillespie rolled over a lot of batting line-ups around the world.

Having to play under pressure is considerably different to coming out and batting when your team is on top.

 

[greymatter776]

I would rate Sachin over Ponting and Lara any day.
All three of them got a similar average in tests (although Sachin is a bit higher)But we should remember that Sachin has played more matches than the other two.More the matches you play,more tough it is to keep your average high.
I hate Ponting more than Lara and Sachin only because of his attitude.I have seen many videos of Ponting cheating and behaving bad and only a few and almost none of Sachin and Lara. Lara and Sachin are gentlemen and they shows respect to the game they play.I saw Ponting standing in the ground pretending that he missed the ball although he knew that he edged it.Seeing this the Umpire gave not out but DRS reversed the decision(Aus vs Pak WC2011)
In the same tournament I saw Sachin walking of knowing that he edged it although Umpire gave it not out clap (Ind vs WI WC2011)

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Although We keep on debating on the issue of who is better Lara or Sachin,
Sachin says that Lara is always better than him and Lara says Sachin is the best

 

[zeustrojanstark]

Cricket is a sport and only the game must be seen.I see no point seeing his personal life or his sportsmanship etc and rate him.Okay cricket must be played in the spirits blah blah okay but that cant be the factor to discriminate.

 

[phil1987]

I would rate Sachin over Ponting and Lara any day.
All three of them got a similar average in tests (although Sachin is a bit higher)But we should remember that Sachin has played more matches than the other two.More the matches you play,more tough it is to keep your average high.
I hate Ponting more than Lara and Sachin only because of his attitude.I have seen many videos of Ponting cheating and behaving bad and only a few and almost none of Sachin and Lara. Lara and Sachin are gentlemen and they shows respect to the game they play.I saw Ponting standing in the ground pretending that he missed the ball although he knew that he edged it.Seeing this the Umpire gave not out but DRS reversed the decision(Aus vs Pak WC2011)
In the same tournament I saw Sachin walking of knowing that he edged it although Umpire gave it not out clap (Ind vs WI WC2011)[

How can you base someones personality on the field on how good of a player he is.

2 years ago i would say Tendulkar was better but now i think its even between him and Lara.

Consistency and stats wise i would say Tendulkar is better. Brian Lara was very shaky at the start of his innings and had some bad patches during his career but when he had his eye in and was in full flow i don't think there has been any one better to watch since Viv.

If you put stats aside and look at all 3 Tendulkar and Lara are way ahead stylistically

Tendulkar has many trademarks like his copy book technique, perfect on-drive, perfect front & back foot defence and great equal ability vs pace and spin bowling.

Lara's great footwork and ability to sweep the spinners, his back foot drives off full half-volley deliveries through the covers and his amazing ability to play long marathon innings.

Ponting's only trademark in my opinion were his hook and pullshots thats not saying he could not play every shot in the book but that was the only feature of his batting that stood out to me.

When great players are too close to separate i like to decide which one i would rather watch make a 100 and to me a Lara or Tendulkar hundred always seemed to look more high class than a Ponting 100.

 

[Satan666]

Afridi says Lara better than Tendulkar

Shahid Afridi recently voiced his opinion on one of the great arguments of the cricket era, Lara or Tendulkar, he rated Lara above Tendulkar, similarly in recent weeks Ricky Ponting and Michael Holding have also rated the masterclass batsman Lara above the little master Tendulkar.

Afridi had this to say:

Lara was the best batsman I have seen in my entire career spanning 16 years. Personally I found him to be a class above the two other greats of this era, Tendulkar and (Ricky) Ponting

Sport - Now Afridi says Lara is better than Tendulkar

 

[Aalay]

And than he was asked who is the better bowler, Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis? And he said I am not good enough to give my opinion on that. Hah, dumbass

 

[Satan666]

And than he was asked who is the better bowler, Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis? And he said I am not good enough to give my opinion on that. Hah, dumbass

I think he based his opinion on the fact that he bowled to both Lara and Tendulkar in the international circuit, probably he didnt bat much against Akram/Waqar in the Pakistani domestic leagues.

No need to call the guy a 'dumbass' because you don't agree with him!

 

[Aalay]

I think he based his opinion on the fact that he bowled to both Lara and Tendulkar in the international circuit, probably he didnt bat much against Akram/Waqar in the Pakistani domestic leagues.

No need to call the guy a 'dumbass' because you don't agree with him!

It would be dumb If I have followed career of two people since I know cricket and even played with them for several years and still can't tell which one is better. He has seen both Wasim and Waqar over the years bowling for Pakistan. If you have good enough understanding of cricket and if you have watched them so close over the years, you should be able make a judgement. Similarly as he did on Sachin and Lara.