Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest batsman of our generation. There is no debate about this fact. However, it brings little comfort to the opposing team who have to play against Tendulkar in a Cricket match. But even the best of the gladiators have chinks in their armor. So how does one best attack Sachin Tendulkar in a one-day Cricket match?
First, let us have a look at how Tendulkar has performed against different styles of bowling in the past 10 years. We have classified all the bowlers in our player database into 7 categories: Chinaman, Fast, Legbreak, Medium, Offbreak, Orthodox and Others. The following table gives the strike rate of Tendulkar against each of these bowlers in the past 10 years.
| Year | Chinaman | Fast | Legbreak | Medium | Offbreak | Orthodox | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 73.79 | 86.79 | 91.20 | 90.00 | 101.45 | ||
| 2003 | 91.89 | 100.00 | 84.38 | 90.50 | 79.17 | 76.27 | 68.00 |
| 2004 | 83.87 | 97.62 | 85.18 | 108.96 | 63.64 | 81.30 | |
| 2005 | 80.00 | 118.42 | 75.23 | 82.72 | 59.38 | ||
| 2006 | 68.75 | 125.64 | 73.20 | 119.30 | 95.83 | 0.00 | |
| 2007 | 74.36 | 71.54 | 125.00 | 89.63 | 93.91 | 98.04 | |
| 2008 | 105.26 | 78.30 | 84.62 | 155.56 | 93.94 | ||
| 2009 | 87.16 | 90.54 | 130.77 | 89.06 | |||
| 2010 | 113.89 | 149.25 | 117.65 | 134.38 | |||
| 2011 | 89.52 | 92.50 | 90.08 | 82.50 | 91.80 | ||
| 2012 | 91.23 | 140.00 | 82.27 | 88.89 | 67.16 | ||
| Overall SR | 87.37 | 80.45 | 104.50 | 87.29 | 98.10 | 85.96 | 72.96 |
And the corresponding batting average of Tendulkar against the bowlers is given the the following table. Note that we do not count run-outs in the outs, since a bowler cannot be credited for the run-out of a batsman.
| Year | Chinaman | Fast | Legbreak | Medium | Offbreak | Orthodox | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 103.00 | - | 55.56 | 110.00 | 69.00 | ||
| 2003 | - | 20.75 | - | 78.08 | 36.00 | 29.50 | - |
| 2004 | 43.40 | - | 42.50 | 22.33 | - | 123.00 | |
| 2005 | - | - | 29.36 | 81.00 | 32.00 | ||
| 2006 | 64.00 | - | 61.78 | 57.00 | - | 3.00 | |
| 2007 | 39.00 | 55.71 | 40.00 | 73.00 | 38.33 | 25.50 | |
| 2008 | - | 42.40 | 68.25 | 9.00 | 33.00 | ||
| 2009 | 74.00 | 69.80 | 34.67 | 32.00 | |||
| 2010 | - | - | - | - | |||
| 2011 | 35.00 | - | 84.00 | 60.00 | 30.50 | ||
| 2012 | 57.00 | - | 31.43 | 36.00 | - | ||
| Overall Avg | 83.00 | 40.60 | 302.00 | 51.72 | 42.94 | 49.00 | 56.67 |
The first thing that stands out in this table is that Tendulkar is really good against legbreak bowlers. Not only does he have a strike rate of 104.5 against legbreak bowlers in the past 10 years, a leg break bowler has got him out just once in the past 10 years. So if you are the captain of a team contemplating which bowler to choose to bowl against Tendulkar, the first piece of advice is: don’t ever send a leg-spinner to bowl to him. Tendulkar is just too good against them.
The second thing to notice is that Tendulkar in general plays very well against spin. He has a pretty good strike rate of 98.1 against the off-spinners as well, although off-spinners have generally been more successful in getting him out over the years. In general, it is a risky proposition to send spinners bowl against Tendulkar, but if you have no option but to choose a spinner, then it is better to choose an off-spinner or an orthodox bowler instead of a leg-spinner.
The final, and the most important point that emerges from this analysis is that fast bowlers are the ones who have had a decent amount of success against Tendulkar. The best way to counter Tendulkar appears to be to have your best fast bowler attack Tendulkar early, and attack often. And of course it is better to keep your spinners away at the boundary.
Finally, let’s have a look at the bowlers that Tendulkar has tormented the most in the past 10 years.
| Bowler | Runs | Balls | Outs | SR | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WD Parnell | 56 | 33 | 0 | 169.70 | - |
| BAW Mendis | 80 | 56 | 2 | 142.86 | 40.00 |
| AR Caddick | 55 | 39 | 1 | 141.03 | 55.00 |
| RE van der Merwe | 43 | 32 | 0 | 134.38 | - |
| MN Samuels | 47 | 35 | 0 | 134.29 | - |
| BL Kotze | 49 | 39 | 0 | 125.64 | - |
| RJ Peterson | 46 | 37 | 0 | 124.32 | - |
| AF Giles | 41 | 33 | 1 | 124.24 | 41.00 |
| KD Mills | 101 | 84 | 1 | 120.24 | 101.00 |
| TG Southee | 36 | 30 | 0 | 120.00 | - |
| Shahid Afridi | 199 | 170 | 0 | 117.06 | - |
As you can see, there are quite a few spinners that have been given a harsh treatment by Tendulkar. And the bowlers who have tormented Tendulkar the most? Here is the list.
| Bowler | Runs | Balls | Outs | SR | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Lee | 203 | 291 | 7 | 69.76 | 29.00 |
| SM Pollock | 13 | 76 | 5 | 17.11 | 2.60 |
| KMDN Kulasekara | 137 | 183 | 5 | 74.86 | 27.40 |
| CRD Fernando | 138 | 162 | 5 | 85.19 | 27.60 |
| A Flintoff | 127 | 153 | 4 | 83.01 | 31.75 |
| Shoaib Akhtar | 138 | 159 | 4 | 86.79 | 34.50 |
| SL Malinga | 148 | 168 | 4 | 88.10 | 37.00 |
| DR Tuffey | 31 | 63 | 3 | 49.21 | 10.33 |
If there was ever a bowler who could call Tendulkar his goat, it would be Shaun Pollock. He has got Tendulkar out 5 times, while yielding just 13 runs in 76 balls. And it should come as no surprise that the above list has all fast bowlers in it. By the way, if you want to get more batsman versus bowler match-up data, you can try out our matchup tool to get the numbers.