5 Players who had a better record than Sachin Tendulkar at one point in their Test career

Sachin Tendulkar’s runs tally in Test cricket are considered Mt. Everest for any player to climb due to a lot of factors. Tendulkar survived many injuries in his career that lasted 24 years. Starting his career at the age of 16 helped the master-blaster to feature in as many as 200 Tests and pile up 15921 runs. If Sachin’s career is to be cut into two halves, the numbers look solid on both sides. In first 100 Tests, Tendulkar aggregated 8405 runs and 7516 in the next 100 matches.

There are many players who have bettered Tendulkar at some point in their careers but failed to carry on the hype and expectations. Some players peaked late in their career only to fall short of Sachin’s big record. Here we look at five players who debuted after Tendulkar’s arrival in International cricket but ended their careers being in a better position than the big man.

5. Andy Flower:

Andy Flower one of the few players that Zimbabwe produced who went on to match the big names with his batting. In his 63-match Test career, Andy aggregated 4794 runs at an average of 51.54 with 12 centuries. He went on to claim the No.1 spot in the ICC Test batting rankings as well.

After 63 Tests, Sachin had scored 4753 runs; 41 less than Flower. However, Tendulkar had played 16 innings fewer than the Zimbabwean at end of the 63rd Test match. In the same number of innings, Sachin had 5673 runs to his name leading Flower by nearly 900 runs.

4. Younis Khan:

Younis Khan ended his career as Pakistan’s most prolific run-getter in Test cricket and has 10099 runs to his names which he compiled in 118 matches at an average of 52.05. He is the only Pakistan player with over 9000 Test runs which wasn’t an easy feat for him to achieve.

Younis had his struggles to be in the team throughout his 17-year career during which he played 118 matches at an average of only seven Tests per year. With 10099 runs to his name, Younis leads Sachin’s tally after 118 Test matches by 504 runs.

The Indian batsman, however, had played fewer innings than Younis after 118 Tests. However, comparing both the players after 213 innings, Sachin leads Younis by a fair margin of 428 runs as the legendary batsman had 10527 runs to his name and had scored one ton more than the Pakistani.

3. Brian Lara:

Brian Lara made his debut in Test cricket shortly after Sachin Tendulkar but went ahead of the latter by end of his career. Lara concluded with 11953 runs in the 131 matches and that gave him an average of 52.88. Despite playing in the toughest phase of Caribbean cricket, Lara finished his career as the leading run-getter in Test cricket.

The record was soon transferred to Tendulkar nearly two years after Lara’s retirement. After 131 Tests, Lara was leading the Indian great’s tally of 10434 by 1519 runs. The big margin was aided by the fact that Lara had played 23 more innings than Tendulkar.

Comparing the stalwarts in terms of innings, Lara is 423 runs ahead of Sachin’s 11520 runs. The Indian batsman went past the West Indian legend’s Test record in his 247th innings which is about 15 innings more than the number Lara played in his career.

2. Kumar Sangakkara:

The way Sangakkara batted in the second half of his Test career, everyone gave him a chance to break Tendulkar’s records. It looked obvious given his record in the 2-3 years preceding his retirement in 2015 when he was probably at the peak of his batting prowess.

The Sri Lankan scored 6908 runs in the last 67 matches after making 5492 runs in his first 67 Tests. The difference of nearly 1500 runs was the reason why he improved his batting average from the early 50s to 57.4. Tendulkar’s tally of 10590 runs after 134 Tests which was 1810 runs behind Sangakkara’s career tally.

The prolific Sri Lankan batsman leads Sachin’s tally by 858 runs, if we go down into comparing runs scored after 233 innings the latter had scored 11532 runs with 38 centuries by then.

1. Rahul Dravid:

A lot of players completed with Sachin Tendulkar for the top batting spots and one among those was compatriot Rahul Dravid with whom Tendulkar spent a majority of time at the crease. The duo had a great contribution to the Indian team in their big wins in the longer format which also reflected with a positive competition between them in terms of records.

Dravid, who retired suddenly in 2012, aggregated 13288 runs in his 164-match career. Interestingly, after 164 Test matches, Tendulkar had scored 13234 runs which is 54 runs less than those Dravid scored in his career. However, Sachin scored nine centuries more than India’s premier No.3 batsman despite playing 18 innings fewer till that point. In terms of innings, Tendulkar leads Dravid by 1225 runs as he scored 14513 Test runs after 286 innings.

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