Wisden on Sachin Tendulkar.

For whatever it is worth, here is a summary of what the Wisden Cricketers' Almanac 2005 says about recent performances of Sachin Tendulkar. Well actually, I do not know how true a summary this is of the actual material from the Almanac. I did not look at the original, but this summary in the Indian Express seems to make its own points.

First, it has a factual and precise description of his recent performances in terms of his share in the team's total runs. And it questions, based on this, has the superstar been reduced to a mere passenger in the Indian team? Well, no one can deny that he is not performing up to the mark of late. And it is definitely true that he seemed to reject his bewitching fusion of majesty and human frailty in favor of a mechanical, robotic accumulation since World Cup 2003. This is the major problem with Sachin recently and he has to address this. But observe that there was a time when he did bewitch the audiences with a fusion of majesty and human frailty.

Now the article makes a more serious statement, and it is not clear if it is coming from the Almanac. It tells us that Sachin Tendulkar has not done much in terms of ensuring that the team won and that he is yet to play that defining innings that has won the game for the country. This is total rubbish, of course. It has become fashionable to quote Lara's innings against Australia to belittle Sachin. It proves nothing more than the fact that none of his innings was as dramatic as that innings of Lara and people conveniently forget innumerable great innings that he played for the country and that were significant in terms of the result of the match. I will shortly post a list of such innings. The article goes on to prattle a list of facts to make its point. These facts can prove only so much.