We all know how great a player Sachin is (and will be for many of the generations to come). But, in this blog I am trying to look at possibly the lowest points of his career and leave it to you to decide how good or bad he is. I always thought Sachin is not a big match player. True that his exploits have helped us reach the finals or semifinals, but when the whole world (especially the Indians) look up to him to deliver, he invariably falters. One of the prime examples of this is the 1999 world where he had a disastrous campaign. Apart from the emotion filled century against the minnows Kenya, he failed to deceive against the big guns. 28 against SA to start with, missed the match against Zimbabwe (which India promptly lost and made it difficult for themselves in the super six stage). In the super six stage one of the most awaited contests was between India and Australia. The pre match hype was so much given what Sachin has done in the sub continental (India and Sharjah) pitches during the 1998 series in which he demolished the Aussies single handedly. But when the ball moved and seamed he was found wanting. Scored a blob against them and 16 against Black caps. Let’s get back to that epic series in 2001 between India and Australia. His contribution in that series was slightly better than Ganguly’s (who had a torrid time). His two half centuries came in a losing cause in the first test. He had virtually nothing to contribute in that epic match in Kolkata (out for 10 in both the innings). Even though he scored a century in the last match, it came after some dropped chances. Also, when it mattered the most in the second innings (India was chasing a paltry 155 and huffed and puffed its way to it losing 8 wickets along the way), he scored 17 and was out. This is not to blame him for all the loses India managed throughout his 19 year career, but to show that he is after all human.

Again in the 2003 - 2004 series against Australia in Australia he had a torrid time often flattering to deceive. In the first three matches, he had nothing to contribute apart from the 37 he scored in the second innings during the famous Adelaide victory. In the fourth match in which he scored a double (241 not out), he looked like a boy lost in a new world. He virtually created an Untouchability rule to the balls even slightly outside off stump. If you see his wagon wheel, 70 to 80% of the runs are scored in the leg and it is no wonder that India needed two and half days to score the 700 runs which literally left no time to bowl the Aussies out twice. That was the most selfish innings I have ever seen him play.

The 2007 world cup is nothing to write about given that India played only three matches; lost two and promptly crashed out.

Of late Sachin’s struggles are countless. In the recently concluded India Sri lanka Series, he required only 173 runs at the start of the series to go past Lara’s record of most runs in tests. But, after three tests alas, he still requires 97 runs to surpass the record. Even though he looked assured against the unorthodox Mendis