The Kohli vs Tendulkar debate: Can cricketing greatness be judged by wins alone?

One tutak tutak tutiya theory has found a voice these days. Virat Kohli, some say, is greater than Sachin Tendulkar. They throw in that joyless addendum — that Tendulkar did not win that many matches for India. And then they go and change their diapers.

Just two facts are enough to blow their notion to bits. Tendulkar helped India win the 1993 Hero Cup with his bowling, at age 20. And he was top scorer for India in the victorious 2011 World Cup campaign, at age 38.

Kohli has a phenomenal 41 ODI centuries, and India have lost only seven times when he has reached three figures.

It must be remembered, though, that India did not always have the bowling or batting resources in Tendulkar’s time that it does now. And then, in the ’90s, some key players were involved in matchfixing, which impacted the win-loss ratio.

And still, 33 of Tendulkar’s 49 One-day hundreds, and 20 of his 51 Test hundreds, resulted in a win for India.

Besides, cricketing greatness cannot be judged by wins alone. Did 18-year-old Tendulkar’s 114 in Perth in 1992, on a lightning quick pitch against a raging attack, result in an India win? No. Was it a sign of greatness? Undoubtedly.


A condescending attitude towards a career as long and multidimensional as Tendulkar’s, an inability or unwillingness to understand the big picture, is a type of bigotry. It’s similar to the ruling political party sidelining Nehru or Gandhi in their account of history, harping on the mistakes they made and ignoring their vast achievements. It is dangerous when propaganda obscures reality.

In the context of Tendulkar, the perception that he did not win many matches for India has no basis in fact. Off the top of the head, World Cup 2011, Hero Cup 1993, CB Series Australia 2007-8, Sharjah 1998 were big Tendulkar moments. All were wins for India. After Tendulkar retired from one-day cricket, the statistician S Rajesh wrote this on a leading cricket website. “It was often said about Tendulkar that his big scores didn’t lead to team wins, but stats reveal something quite different: Tendulkar scored 33 of his 49 centuries in wins, and averaged more than 56 in team wins, at a strike rate of 90. Among those who scored at least 5,000 runs in wins, only (Brian) Lara and (Viv) Richards have higher averages.”

That was in 2012. And it is possible there are more names in the list. But you get the point.


And related to the Hero Cup win mentioned above, Rajesh also pointed out Tendulkar’s bowling contribution. He took 154 wickets in ODIs, just a few short of specialist bowlers like Ashish Nehra and Manoj Prabhakar.

Tendulkar cynics have used one particular game as an excuse to poison their arrows —the Asia Cup encounter against Bangladesh in 2012, when he was chasing his 100th century. The time he took to reach the milestone was one of the reasons India lost the match. But in the overall analysis of his career, it wasn’t a gross misdemeanour. Sometimes a man earns certain rights. Who cares about the Asia Cup anyway? As for the Virat comparison, let him complete his career first.