God born in a wrong country

Sachin R Tendulkar, born on April 24 1973 in Bombay, India. Two years later, Jacques Henry Kallis was born on October 16 1975, in Cape Town, South Africa.

There are a lot of things common in these players. Both have an absolute calmness when at the crease. They strive for perfection. Even with all these years of cricket under their belt, they still are good students of the game. Improvising when needed, adapting to the most modern forms of cricket. The real ambassadors of the game portraying great humility and have always been in the media for all good reasons. Just that one is liked more by the media due to the impact, legacy and fraternity of cricket in his country.

Although Kallis first appeared in tests and ODIs 6 years after Tendulkar made his debut in 1989, Kallis has not been very far behind in the total number of runs scored in test cricket. And, in the end, what might separate the two would be the total number of runs because with the batting averages Kallis goes head-to-head with Tendulkar in all forms. Also, if a comparison is made for the last 10 years Kallis has performed better than Tendulkar.

There are a few arguments that I have heard that talk about Kallis has scored a lot of runs in tests against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh who are still novices when it comes to test cricket and that makes his statistics look a lot more attractive than what they really are. The fact that Kallis has scored a lot of runs against these two nations is true, and stunning because he averages 169.75 against Zimbabwe and 79.25 against Bangladesh.

So I wanted to pull up the statistics that does the comparison between Tendulkar and Kallis' test record excluding the runs scored against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. And I did manage to find this data, which would negate the argument of Kallis' record only looks overly attractive thanks to Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Best Test averages v all teams except B'desh and Zim since Jan 1999

Batsman	Tests	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
Jacques Kallis	111	9932	59.47	34/ 45
Sachin Tendulkar	101	8299	52.85	26/ 38

With just 10 more tests Kallis has scored a whopping 1600 more runs than Tendulkar with a better average and more number of hundreds and fifties.

Another interesting statistic that I found was that both Sachin and Kallis have scored over 16%of their team runs in their test batting career. Also very interesting is the percentage of centuries they have scored from their teams' centuries.

Runs and hundreds by player and team

Batsman	Runs	Team runs	Percentage	100s	100s by team	Percentage
Sachin Tendulkar	14,690	89,657	16.38	51	200	25.50
Jacques Kallis	11,947	72,268	16.53	40	160	25.00

Sachin Tendulkar: Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	177	290	32	14692	248*	56.94			51	59		64	106	0
ODIs	453	442	41	18111	200*	45.16	20980	86.32	48	95	1981	193	136	0

Jacques Kallis: Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	145	246	38	11947	201*	57.43	26418	45.22	40	54	1315	86	166	0
ODIs	314	300	53	11227	139	45.45	15426	72.77	17	82	880	130	122	0

The above table comparing their batting records proves that in terms of batting averages there is not much to say between these two players, in fact Kallis edging out slightly on top.

And all this talk doesn't even mention bowling. Because there is actually no comparison that can be made there. 

 Sachin Tendulkar: Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	177	135	4096	2388	45	3/10	3/14	53.06	3.49	91.0	0	0	0
ODIs	453	269	8044	6838	154	5/32	5/32	44.40	5.10	52.2	4	2	0

Jacques Kallis: Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	145	240	18337	8643	270	6/54	9/92	32.01	2.82	67.9	7	5	0
ODIs	314	275	10450	8387	264	5/30	5/30	31.76	4.81	39.5	2	2	0

For all the pundits who continue to consider Tendulkar ahead in terms of a  batting, shouldn't have any problems to admit the leader in the bowling trade. With over 250 wickets in both forms of the game and over 10000 runs again in both forms, I have to admit that Kallis "statistically" is a better overall cricketer than Tendulkar. And if I have to choose one in the all time test or ODI team, I will go for Kallis.

One of my favorite Sidhuisms is "statistics are like bikinis… what they reveal is suggestive, what they hide is essential! "  And seems like it is in this essentiality where Tendulkar wins the race and is called "God" by the whole world.


Earlier this year in their match against India in Cape town, Kallis was enduring chest injuries, muscle pains and bruised ribs when he saved SA from an early batting collapse (98-5), to 341 where he made his 40th Test century and won the match for SA.  Boucher said, "I don't think anyone understands how much pain he is in. The doctor told me it's like breaking your own rib."
This is when Harbhajan Singh said,"After Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis is the best player in the world."
I think this is a huge statement considering it is coming from a current Indian cricketer, and this is probably as close as one could publicly get, especially to the media, to praise a cricketer other than Tendulkar.


We also need to consider that Kallis belongs to a team that has been tagged as "chokers". And that tag would haunt him as well, along with the rest of the Proteas, the way it has been for so many years now. Not being able to help the team go all the way has been another argument from his critics. And I think this is where he is suppose to be lagging behind Tendulkar. Even though Tendulkar himself, doesn't have an impressive record when it comes to playing the finals. But the Proteas have hardly managed to even reach the finals. I believe this is where his biggest challenge lies, to help the Proteas reach and possibly win the finals of a big tournament like the world cup.


With Sachin not retiring post the 2011 world-cup win, I think it is going to be Sachin versus Kallis over the next few years in test and ODis. However, this comparison is for us, the cricket audience. Sachin and Kallis would both religiously, equally hungry for runs that they are, would continue breaking and establishing newer records and helping the game win hearts.

I believe we are lucky to have been born in the times to see both these greats play. And if Sachin is the God of Cricket, then I would just say that Kallis is no less, just that, he happened to be born in a country where Cricket is not a religion and may be that's why the world doesn't address him as one. But is it a problem if cricket has two Gods ?

Thanks to my Boston buddies who made me realize how Kallis is calmly and steadily building a strong portfolio that is going largely unnoticed by a large section of the media.

Data source: espncricinfo.com