The 'myth' about Sachin ton and India losing

The 'myth' about Sachin's ton and India losing

Sachin Tendulkar gets to yet another century but India end up on the losing side - How many times have we seen that? Even in this World Cup, the batting legend went past 100 on two occasions but neither facilitated an Indian win. However, it is not the fault of the great cricketer that India ended up on the losing side yet again.

While there would be the Tendulkar bashers and critics who say that India lose a match whenever Sachin scores a century, the statistics prove otherwise. Of the 48 ODI centuries that Tendulkar has scored so far, only 13 such three-figure scores have ended up in a losing cause for India, while in 33 matches, where the batting maestro has gone past 100, India have emerged victors. One match against England in July 2002 saw a Sachin ton yield no result while the recently concluded match against the same side resulted in a tied game.

Here's a look at Sachin's ODI hundreds in losing causes:

Runs	4s	6s	Strike Rate	Innings	Against	Venue	Date
137	8	5	100.00	1	Sri Lanka	Delhi	2-Mar-96
100	9	1	90.09	1	Pakistan	Singapore	5-Apr-96
110	5	1	79.71	1	Sri Lanka	Colombo	28-Aug-96
143	9	5	109.16	2	Australia	Sharjah	22-Apr-98
101	3	1	72.14	1	Sri Lanka	Sharjah	20-Oct-00
146	15	2	95.42	1	Zimbabwe	Jodhpur	8-Dec-00
101	9	0	78.29	1	South Africa	Johannesburg	5-Oct-01
141	17	1	104.44	2	Pakistan	Rawalpindi	16-Mar-04
123	12	2	94.61	1	Pakistan	Ahmedabad	12-Apr-05
100	10	1	88.49	1	Pakistan	Peshawar	6-Feb-06
141*	13	5	95.27	1	West Indies	Kuala Lumpur	14-Sep-06
175	19	4	124.11	2	Australia	Hyderabad	5-Nov-09
111	8	3	109.90	1	South Africa	Nagpur	12-Mar-11

Now that the statistics prove Sachin's hundreds have yielded more wins than losses for India, let us see what the maestro has done for India's cause when he has gone past 50 but not a ton. 

 

Out of the 93 times Sachin Tendulkar has scored a fifty, India have secured 56 wins while ending up on the losing side 35 times. Two games yielded no results. Digging deeper, India has won 28 times whenever Sachin has scored between 70 to 99.

The next question that will come up on peoples' minds is "Who has scored the maximum number of tons in winning causes for their respective teams?" Once again, Tendulkar's critics will have their mouths tightly shut because the master tops the chart with most number of tons resulting in a team's win. He also has stayed unbeaten the most number of times while leading a team's win.  

Here is the list:

Player	Country	Hundreds	Not-outs	Highest
Sachin Tendulkar	India	33	13	200*
Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	24	5	189
Ricky Ponting	Australia	25	8	145
Sourav Ganguly	India	18	10	183
Brian Lara	West Indies	16	3	169
Adam Gilchrist	Australia	16	1	172
Desmond Haynes	West Indies	16	10	152*
Saeed Anwar	Pakistan	16	6	194
Mark Waugh	Australia	15	4	173
Herschelle Gibbs	South Africa	15	1	175

To add to all these, Sachin Tendulkar has the most number of 'Man of the Match' and 'Man of the series' awards than any other cricketer in ODIs - evidence to the fact that Tendulkar is a major contributor in Indian wins.

To conclude, Sachin's contribution to the game and to India, regardless of what people say, is undoubted and he has more often than not provided joy than agony to the cricket fan. The South Africa match was another instance of the legend putting up his hand and giving his all to the team while the others failed, but can Tendulkar be blamed for his teammates not performing?