Who faced tougher bowlers in test cricket — Sachin Tendulkar or Joe Root?

[Serpico]

I think better way to compare between the eras is by comparing to their fellow teammates, since they would have faced exact same lineups and conditions?

 

Like how often Sachin got overshadowed by other Indian batsmen in a series? And how often did it happen to Root? Dravid mogged him in 3-4 big series, Laxman did it a couple of times, Sehwag did it 2-3 times, even Ganguly somehow did it a couple times.. did Azhar/Sidhu ever do it in 90s? Even Gambhir had that Nz 2009 series, Dhoni in that final Aus series, even RGS did it in last series. Root got mogged by Stokes couple of times and maybe few times by Cook early on, and now Brook maybe but I cannot imagine him getting outdone by every batsman in the lineup like can Jamie smith ever completely dominate Root in a series?

[Cloud9]

15 minutes ago, Prabhdeep Singh said:

You need to consider this, Sachin maintained record playing 2 formats fully. Flare in his game.

 

Root is a nobody in T20 & ODI, boring to watch, nothing exceptional. No flare in his game. Root more comparable to players like Kallis, Sangakarra, Border, Dravid and Younis Khan, i.e boring but effective.

 

Also since Stokes became captain i.e pitches since 2022 in England have been on the flatter side.

He maybe nobody in t20 but in Odi he has 19 centuries and that is more than decent. 

[Prabhdeep Singh]

10 minutes ago, Cloud9 said:

He maybe nobody in t20 but in Odi he has 19 centuries and that is more than decent. 

19 is decent but when you compare to great ODI players in India and around the world it is quite small:

 

Kohli (53 100’s)
Tendulkar (51 100’s)

Rohit (33 100’s)

Ganguly (22 100’s)

 

I put it this way, for England standards 19 100’s is great.

[sage]

Only three people averaged 50 in the 90s and sachin topped the list at 59 after playing the whole decade. 

[putrevus]

Facing one great bowler plus other ordinary bowlers is lot different from facing a great bowling attack. Root would have had lot of difficulty in scoring 100 if both Cummins and Josh were there.Once Starc was done it was easy going from both ends.

 

Sachin faced Waqar and Wasim once after his debut series in 1999 ten years after his debut.Ambrose never toured India.Sachin faced Walsh and Ambrose in one series that too at fag end of their career  in 1997.

 

He faced Saqlain in 1999 series, he scored that Chennai 100 but was non factor in other two tests

 

Warne was nervous wreck after getting punished by Siddu in 1998, so was Murali when playing in India.Murali got hammered from 1993 series where Siddu treated Murali like rag doll till Sehwag finished him 2008 in Mumbai.

 

Australia he faced good bowling attack in 2001 home series , but it was all about VVS. 1999 in Australia he faced  very good attack was best batsman from India but against VVS 167 outshone  everything.

It is only SA where Sachin faced their best bowling attacks.But they never had any spinners.

 

Root definitely faced better spinners in India in Ashwin, Jadeja who have better records in India than both Warne or Murali.

 

2010 is defintely decade for bowlers.Root has faced best bowling attacks of India, Australia, SA and NZ.

 

It does not make Root better batsman than Sachin. Sachin's ability to adapt for all conditions is far superior.Sachin's major flaw in his career was he never imposed himself in any series .2010 was best year for Sachin IMO .His game was flawless then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2025 by putrevus

[Cloud9]

9 minutes ago, Prabhdeep Singh said:

19 is decent but when you compare to great ODI players in India and around the world it is quite small:

 

Kohli (53 100’s)
Tendulkar (51 100’s)

Rohit (33 100’s)

Ganguly (22 100’s)

 

I put it this way, for England standards 19 100’s is great.

How many Odis did he played?  Not even 200! 

[cricspirit]

Meh..

 

Sachin wipes the Pitch with Root. Dont care about complex analysis on this..

 

[The Hound]

Current era is the most bowling friendly era in tests since black & white days. 2000s decade tests were mostly played on flat roads. 

[Prabhdeep Singh]

1 hour ago, Cloud9 said:

How many Odis did he played?  Not even 200! 

There are many players who have better ratio  of 100’s to number of innings like:

 

Hashim Amal (27 in 178 innings)

David Warner (22 in 159 innings)

De Kock (22 in 160 innings)

Babar Azam (20 in 137 innings)

Shai Hope (19 in 143 innings)

Amla and Warner also have a better strike rate also.

[Chakdephatte]

2 hours ago, Prabhdeep Singh said:

You need to consider this, Sachin maintained record playing 2 formats fully. Flare in his game.

No, you don't have to. The question is about bowling depth only. Bowlers are becoming irrelevant in limited overs anyway, so that's out of question. The only real comparison is in tests. 

2 hours ago, putrevus said:

Facing one great bowler plus other ordinary bowlers is lot different from facing a great bowling attack. Root would have had lot of difficulty in scoring 100 if both Cummins and Josh were there.Once Starc was done it was easy going from both ends. 

 

Good comment. Who is Starc equivalent from Ponting and Waugh's Australia? I think he walks into any of their elevens easily. Better than Lee I'd say, who was their second best bowler. 

 

 

[Vilander]

There is only one Ailaaa.. class apart. 

[Chakdephatte]

On 12/17/2022 at 8:18 AM, King6 said:

 

Sehwaag kohli each played 104 and 102 matches respectively.. Sehwaag mostly played in 2000 decade n kohli played in 2010 decade.. Both batsman avg almost same.. But if we compare deeply 

 

Sehwaag 104 matches avg match runs 1135 avg wickets per match 30.45

Avg runs per wicket 1135/30.45=37.26

 

Kohli 102 matches

Avg runs per match 1010

Wickets per match 32.3

Avg runs per wicket 31.2.. 

 

Difference b/w two era's match avg per wicket 6 runs.. Even in this era mostly our batsman only playing on tricky pitches either home/away comparatively other teams

Good discussion in another thread

[maniac]

Joe Root is a modern day Allan Border, he might hold the record, he will be considered a great player but how many ATG XI’s will he make? Good player. However Answer: Sachin

[maniac]

Also remember Sachin used to play on wickets where we our spinners would roll over teams. Root played on Bazball pattas, Rawalpindi highways. His record in Aus was poor. This was his first 100 in what 4 tours? Even Rahane has done better. He has done well on Indian  pitches though. That kind of ups his stature in my book  

 

there is 0 comparison.

[rkt.india]

19 hours ago, Insidious said:

It only shows how mediocre the new generation batsmen are. The fact that Indian batsman used to handle Murali, Warne well and now struggling against Harmer, santer further prove my point.

 

No, it shows the pitches were worsened. Otherwise maharathis too struggled against Clarke on similar pitches.

[Cloud9]

19 hours ago, Insidious said:

It only shows how mediocre the new generation batsmen are. The fact that Indian batsman used to handle Murali, Warne well and now struggling against Harmer, santer further prove my point.

 

Harmer has 1000 fc wickets that I can digest but what are Santners credentials? He didn't even had 5 fer in FC cricket before Indian tour but still managed to picked a 12fer.

Edited December 5, 2025 by Cloud9

[maniac]

1 hour ago, Cloud9 said:

Harmer has 1000 fc wickets that I can digest but what are Santners credentials? He didn't even had 5 fer in FC cricket before Indian tour but still managed to picked a 12fer.

Santner is a fantastic bowler. He was fasttracked early into Nzl side so didn’t play a lot of FC. Also he plays in Nzl not subcontinent to take 5frs for fun in FC.

 

He is as good as Jadeja if you ask me in red ball and maybe better in Lois.

[putrevus]

2 hours ago, maniac said:

Santner is a fantastic bowler. He was fasttracked early into Nzl side so didn’t play a lot of FC. Also he plays in Nzl not subcontinent to take 5frs for fun in FC.

 

He is as good as Jadeja if you ask me in red ball and maybe better in Lois.

No he is not. Jadeja when he was younger was able to extract life even on flat pitches .

 

Lot of miles are there on Jadeja.

[Lord]

4 hours ago, maniac said:

Santner is a fantastic bowler. He was fasttracked early into Nzl side so didn’t play a lot of FC. Also he plays in Nzl not subcontinent to take 5frs for fun in FC.

 

He is as good as Jadeja if you ask me in red ball and maybe better in Lois.

 

He was poor in SL tour right before ours. Managed to do well only against us.

 

Great LOI spinner indeed

[putrevus]

1 minute ago, Lord said:

 

He was poor in SL tour right before ours. Managed to do well only against us.

 

Great LOI spinner indeed

I would not call him great by any means even in LOIs, he did well in one test. There are lot spinners who have done well in one test on bunsen burners in India.

 

He is better fit as number 7 or 8 as he can use long handle.